The origins of the Provost can be found in the issuing of Air Ministry specification T.16/48, which called for a single-engined basic trainer aircraft to meet "Operational Requirement 257", seeking a replacement for the Royal Air Force's (RAF) existing fleet of Percival Prentice trainers. A major priority of the specification was to introduce more direct supervision and observation of student pilots by instructors in order to reduce the rate of late-stage dropouts. On 11 September 1948, this specification was issued, attracting the attention of various aviation companies; the Air Ministry ultimately received in excess of 30 proposals. Percival was amongst those companies that decided to produce a response, their design has been attributed to the Polish-born aeronautical engineer, Henry Millicer (Millicer later moved to Australia, where he designed the award-winning Victa Airtourer light aircraft).