18 Facts About Edgar Percival

Edgar Wikner Percival was an Australian aircraft designer and pilot whose aircraft were distinguished by speed and grace.

Edgar Percival became fascinated by aviation, especially after seeing an aeroplane for the first time in 1911, when a local dental surgeon and pioneer aviator, William Ewart Hart, landed on the council field in Richmond, near the Percival property.

Edgar Percival left school at the age of 15, to become an apprentice engineer at a Sydney firm.

Edgar Percival later enrolled at Sydney Technical College, before undertaking a short course in aeronautical engineering at Sydney University.

In December 1915, Edgar Percival volunteered for overseas service with the Australian Imperial Force, as a private with the 7th Light Horse Regiment.

Edgar Percival requested a transfer from the AIF to pilot training with the British Royal Flying Corps, and was accepted in November 1916.

Edgar Percival was noted for his flying skills and after he was promoted to captain, transferred to No 111 Squadron as one of its founding members.

Later in the same year, Edgar Percival was involved in a series of proving flights that helped establish the use of carrier-borne fighters, culminating in him taking off in a Sopwith Pup from the turret of the USS Idaho battleship, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Edgar Percival returned to England in 1929 where he was appointed as an Air Ministry test pilot, specializing in amphibians, seaplanes and Schneider Trophy racers and went on to set up his own firm, the Edgar Percival Aircraft Company, to produce his aircraft designs.

Edgar Percival was very active as a pilot during the interwar period; not only did he compete with regular success, but his designs were widely used by other racing and record-setting pilots who held his products in very high regard.

In 1934, after 24 Gulls had been produced at Parnalls, Edgar Percival set up his own factory at London Gravesend Airport, Kent.

Edgar Percival's aircraft were renowned for their graceful lines and outstanding performance.

Edgar Percival was the first pilot to fly from Britain to Africa and back in one day.

Edgar Percival left Gravesend at 1.30am and returned to Croydon at 6.20pm.

In late 1936 Edgar Percival transferred production to larger facilities at the newly built Luton Corporation Airport in Bedfordshire.

Again, the same basic method of construction was employed and the finished result was an aesthetically pleasing and aerodynamically clean feederliner which represented the final new design produced by the company prior to Edgar Percival selling his interests in the company.

Edgar Percival went to New Zealand in 1951, where he was involved with pioneering aerial application efforts.

At the time of his death in 1984, Edgar Percival was working on aviation projects in the UK and New Zealand.