Like other countries the United Kingdom needed a dedicated basic jet trainer in the 1950s to prepare student pilots for jet fighters. Hunting Percival already made the Provost piston engine primary trainer, and developed the Jet Provost from it. In particular the tail and wings are similar. The Jet Provost is a single jet with the exhaust at the very end of the fuselage. It is fed by air intakes in front the wing roots, at the side of the fuselage. These intakes have a typical long oval or bean shape. Between the intakes is the cockpit with side-by-side seating for student and instructor pilot. The rear part of the canopy slides back to open. The airplane has a trapezium, non-swept vertical stabiliser just like the Provost. There are horizontal stabilisers just above the exhaust, slightly behind the vertical fin. Finally, the Jet Provost has an all single wheel gear of which the nose gear retracts forward in the rounded nose.

Based on the last major version British Aircraft Corp (BAC) - in which Hunting Percival was merged - developed a dedicated light attack variant, that was marketed as Strikemaster.

The different versions of the Jet Provost and Strikemaster can externally be distinguished by

• the shape of the canopy
• the presence of tip tanks
• the shape of the gear
• the shape of the exhaust
• the presence of a (long) dorsal fin 
• the presence of pylons under the wings, for storage of weapons

Details will follow later.