Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Three-seat cabin monoplane

Power Plant:

One 97 kw (130 hp) de Havilland Gipsy Major four-cylinder in-line air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

The series of aircraft stemming from the Gull were all-wood low-wing monoplanes designed by Edgar W Percival, the Australian who founded Percival Aircraft Ltd in the United Kingdom.  The prototype, known as the Type D-2 (G-ABUR – c/n D.20), was flown for the first time in 1932 with a Cirrus Hermes IV engine of 97 kw (130 hp), an inverted four-cylinder unit driving a Fairey fixed pitch propeller, and was known as the Type D-1.

Subsequently production of the type was sub-contracted to George Parnall and Co, and an initial quantity of 24 was built. With folding wings for ease of storage, these aircraft were offered with a variety of engines. Those with the de Havilland Gipsy Major or 119 kw (160 hp) Napier Javelin III became known as the Type D-2. The prototype was flown by Edgar Percival in the 1932 Kings Cup air race and achieved a speed of 229.69 km/h (142.73 mph), although he did not win. It was a three-seat all-wood low-wing monoplane. The primary fuselage was a plywood box, rectangular in cross-section, reinforced with spruce longerons and frames, capped by a coaming of ply supported by laminated spruce frames.  All external surfaces had a covering of Madapolam dope on the surface.

In 1933 Percival Aircraft Co was floated by Capt Percival and Cdr Leake and a production facility established at Gravesend in Kent, UK. Refinements were incorporated to the design, including full cabin roof glazing, the horn balance removed from the rudder, and an airbrake fitted to the bottom of the fuselage. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith purchased a Gull Four (G-ACJV – c/n D.39), as the model with the four-cylinder engine became known, and in this aircraft, named “Miss Southern Cross”, he made a record-breaking flight from Lympne in Kent to Darwin, NT in seven days, four hours and 44 minutes. This aircraft later became VH-CKS and crashed on 28 November 1934 at Gerranderie, NSW.

In 1934 the Percival Aircraft Co Ltd established its own manufacturing facilities at Gravesend Airport, where a new model was built with a single-strut undercarriage, revised cabin top and entrance doors, and fitted with a 149 kw (200 hp) Gipsy Six engine. This model, which was known as the Type D-3 or Gull Six, became very popular, and Edgar Percival flew G-ADEP (c/n D.49) from Gravesend to Oran, Algeria, and back in one day in 1935.  The Gull series was a success, although it came at the time of a recession in the British aircraft industry. Twenty-nine Gull IVs and 19 Gull VIs were built.  Only a few survive.

Aircraft in the Gull IV series in this region include: VH-UTP (c/n D.30), originally fitted with a Javelin III engine, built by Parnall, the tenth Gull completed, being registered to Capt Percival (G-ACHA) in June 1933 and flown in the Kings Cup air race on 8 July 1933. In August that year it was sold to Airwork Ltd and fitted with a Gipsy Six engine, and later again with a Gipsy Major engine. In 1935 it was sold in Australia to noted Australian pilot and navigator, P G Taylor (later Sir). It was later registered to Chaseling Air Services at Essendon, VIC in August 1935. This Company operated it for charter and taxi work. In January 1936 it was sold to the Victorian Flying School, and in April that year to Holymans Airways.

In 1936 Australian National Airways Pty Ltd was formed, later amalgamating with Chaseling. The Gull joined the fleet and was named Pilega. For a short period in the 1950s it was operated by Crowley Airways in New Guinea. It subsequently had a number of owners, including Rain Air Taxis in Sydney, before being retired on 19 May 1956 following a ground-loop at Bourke, NSW. It was restored to airworthiness at Murwillumbah, NSW by Mothcair in the late 1990s and has been regularly seen attending aviation events in southern Queensland.

VH-UTC (c/n D.38 – ex G-AJCW), a Model D-2, was registered on 18 September 1933 to Lt P Randolph and from 30 January 1935 to O B Hall of Sydney. Subsequently it had owners in Adelaide, SA, Sydney, NSW and Longreach, QLD. It was damaged during a night landing on 28 July 1940 and was withdrawn from service.

VH-UQW (c/n D.24 – ex G-ACAT), a Gull IV D-2, first registered on 18 May 1933 to D Mackay of Port Hacking, NSW. Subsequent owners included J R Patrick of Sydney, G E Ryder of Cessnock, NSW P G Taylor of Sydney, J Beel of Cunnamulla, QLD and J H Bowden of Bowden Air Transport of Broken Hill, NSW. It was destroyed in a fire in that Company’s workshop at Broken Hill, on 16 April 1945.

VH-UVH (c/n D.7) a Gull IV D-3, left Croydon in the United Kingdom on 2 November 1935 piloted by C J “Jimmy” Melrose, arriving in Darwin on 28 November. However it crashed whilst attempting to make a forced landing near Goulburn, NSW on 3 December 1935 and was written off, the registration not being taken up.

One Gull IV was registered in New Zealand as ZK-AES (c/n D.45). Fitted with a Gipsy Major engine, and registered in the United Kingdom as G-ACUL, this aircraft was subsequently fitted with a Gipsy Six and flown to New Zealand during October – November 1936. It was impressed into service with the RNZAF during World War II as NZ572 but did not return to the civil register after the war.