One Of Only Two Known To Still Be Flying

by ANN Correspondent Jeremy King

Sometimes, an airplane just stands out. Adaptability to odd applications, a unique shape, or a machine that towers head and shoulders above the rest of the line -- any factor can qualify an airplane as odd.

Jan Christie's EP.9 is just that, on all counts!

Edgar Percival was an Australian native who moved to England. Percival's designs were record-breakers and trend-setters in pre WWII Europe. Once the war set in, Percival produced trainers for the Royal Air Force.

After the war ended and England rebuilt, Percival cleared his boards and started on a new design, a departure from the wartime aircraft. This one would be a radical departure: an aircraft designed for agricultural and general utility work.

The Prospector took flight in 1955. The word utility, well it fits! It's approved to fly with the rear cone of the fuselage removed to drop loads, such as sheep feed in New Zealand. This airplane flew at a skydiving operation in the 1960s. The airplane had the option of operating on floats, too. Such a workhorse aircraft demands a workhorse engine P and the Lycoming GO-480B churning out 270 HP is up for the task.

Slotted flaps and drooping ailerons slow the stall speed to 35 mph.

One can correctly assume that an airplane that versatile must look different than the average Spam can.

"My particular aircraft was one of two ordered by the British Army Air Corps," Christie said. His plane spent almost four years in service before it earned status as a civilian.

Harold Best-Devereux, an icon to old EAA members, "Sold the plane to the pilot who turned out to be one of a gang who robbed fur stores in London at gunpoint, flew their loot to an abandoned WWII airstrip in Belgium, then hid the loot in a shed for sale in Belgium and France.

Crime doesn't pay, for long, anyway, and the thieves wound up in jail. On a tip from Best-Devereux, Christie bought the plane in Belgium in 1973, and flew it around Europe until he moved to America in 1976. The airplane followed in a container with the rest of his belongings. The plane sat in storage for 24 years. Then Christie reassembled the plane and got it re-licensed in 2000.

It won the "Most Unique" contemporary award at AirVenture 2002.

"Of the 27 built, my EP.9 is one of the two known to be flying (the other is in England). Some are in museums worldwide, and there is one being worked on that may fly again," Christie said. "Mine was never used agriculturally, so it had no chemical exposure to cause corrosion."

FMI: www.britishaircraft.co.uk/aircraftpage.php?ID=765