"JET PROVOST HEAVEN"
KNOWN JET PROVOST T.5 SURVIVORS
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BAC JET PROVOST T.5P XS230 (G-VIVM)
 
   
XS230 is actually the prototype T.5. It was built as the penultimate Jet Provost T.4 for the RAF, but it was retained by BAC and converted on the production line to T.5 specification.
It first flew from Warton on 28th February 1967, and was issued to the Empire Test Pilots School based at Boscombe Down later that year. Its stay with the unit only lasted a year, before moving onto the strength of Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment, also based at Boscombe, in June 1968.
It remained in service with the MoD at the Wiltshire base for the next 25 years, making its last military flight on 14th July 1993, before being officially retired in 1994.

It was entered in the November 1994 Sothebys auction and was hammered down to its new owner Tom Moloney, founder of the Transair Pilot Shop, for £22,000. Registered on the civilian aircraft register as G-BVWF, XS230 was ferried to its new home at North Weald in early 1995. It was then given an overhaul by Gosh That's Aviation Ltd.
Next it was flown to Gloucestershire Airport for a complete strip down and re-finish by Meg Air, and returned to North Weald in June resplendent in its 'factory fresh' Boscombe Down raspberry ripple scheme. In 1996 Tom formed the "Transair Jet Provost Duo" with Bob Thompson, using XS230, now re-registered as G-VIVM, and Bob's Jet Provost T.5A XW422 (G-BWEB).
The team was seen at numerous air-shows throughout the 1996 and 1997 seasons, before Tom and Bob "traded in" the Jet Provosts for two Strikemasters, prior to the 1998 season.

Tom Moloney sold the aircraft to Georgio Clementi, owner of the International Test Pilots School based at Cranfield. It was later operated from BAe Woodford and Coventry Airport before returning to North Weald in August 2000. Placed in store, and offered for sale, G-VIVM was bought by Ken Lyndon-Dykes in late 2001, who continued to base the aircraft at North Weald.

Now under syndicate ownership, G-VIVM is part of the Swords Aviation fleet, and is a regular sight in the skies over Essex.

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