 Percy Sinclair Pilcher (January 1866 — 2 October 1899) was a British inventor and pioneer aviator who, in one of the big "what if" events of history, could well have become the first person to achieve controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight well before the Wright brothers had he not been tragically killed in a glider accident. Percy Pilcher (19th century photograph) This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ...
1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...
is the 275th day of the year (276th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
A hummingbird Female Mallard Duck in midflight A dragonfly in flight Flight is the process by which an object achieves sustained movement either through the air by aerodynamically generating lift or aerostatically using buoyancy, or movement beyond earths atmosphere, in the case of spaceflight. ...
The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871–January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867–May 30, 1912), were two Americans generally credited with building the worlds first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903. ...
Early life Pilcher was born in Bath in 1866 to a Scottish mother, and served in the Royal Navy for seven years from 1880. Thereafter he became an apprentice with the shipbuilders, Randolph, Elder and Company, of Govan in Glasgow. Bath is a city in Somerset, England most famous for its baths fed by three hot springs. ...
This article is about the navy of the United Kingdom. ...
Career
 Percy Pilcher flying his Hawk hang glider. UK, 1897. In 1891 Pilcher began work as assistant lecturer at Glasgow University and took a growing interest in aviation. He built a hang glider called The Bat which he flew for the first time in 1895. Later that year Pilcher met Otto Lilienthal, who was the leading expert in gliding in Germany. These discussions led to Pilcher building two more gliders, The Beetle and The Gull. Based on the work of his mentor Otto Lilienthal, in 1897 Pilcher built a glider called The Hawk with which he broke the world distance record when he flew 250 m (820 feet) at the grounds of Stanford Hall in Leicestershire, England. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Hang glider soaring over Mount Tamalpais A hang glider is a type of glider aircraft that has no moving control surfaces and is controlled during flight by shifting the pilot mass to effect the systems center of mass. ...
Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
Otto Lilienthal Otto Lilienthal (23 May 1848 – 10 August 1896), the German Glider King, was a pioneer of human aviation. ...
The Hall Stanford Hall is a stately home in Leicestershire, England, near the town of Lutterworth. ...
Leicestershire ( IPA: (RP), IPA: (locally)), abbreviation Leics. ...
For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...
Pilcher set his sights upon powered flight: he developed a triplane that was to be powered by a 4 hp (3 kW) engine; however, construction of the triplane put him heavily into debt, and Pilcher needed sponsorship to complete his work. A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three sets of wings, each roughly the same size and mounted one above the other. ...
This article is about a unit of measurement. ...
 Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 800 pixel, file size: 310 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ...
Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 800 pixel, file size: 310 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ...
Death On 30 September 1899, having completed his triplane, he had intended to demonstrate it to a group of onlookers and potential sponsors in a field near Stanford Hall. However, the engine broke down and, so as not to disappoint his guests, he decided to fly the Hawk instead. Whilst flying, the tail snapped and Pilcher plunged 10 metres (30 feet) to the ground: he died two days later from his injuries with his triplane having never been publicly flown. is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
He is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.[1] Brompton Cemetery is a cemetery located near Earls Court in West Brompton, a part of the Borough of Kensington & Chelsea in west London, England. ...
Legacy A stone monument to him stands in the field near Stanford Hall at the point where he crashed, and a full sized replica of his "The Hawk" glider is also displayed at Stanford Hall.
Renewal of interest Pilcher's plans were lost for many years, and his name was also long forgotten except by a few enthusiasts. With the upcoming centenary of flight, a new effort was made to find the lost work, and some correspondence was found in a private American collection. From this it was possible to discern the general direction of his plans and the basis of his design. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Pilcher had worked out how to produce lift using winglike structures, but at this time a full mathematical description was years away, so many elements were still missing. In particular, Pilcher was stuck trying to design a wing that could lift the weight of an engine, the aircraft itself and the occupant - each increase in wing area increased the weight so much that yet more lift was required, requiring a larger wing - a seemingly vicious circle. Pilcher's breakthrough, thanks to correspondence with another pioneer, Octave Chanute, was to stack smaller, lighter wings one atop the other in an arrangement we know today as the biplane or triplane. This allowed the wings to generate much more lift without a corresponding increase in weight. Octave Chanute Octave Chanute (18 February 1832 - November 23, 1910) was a French-born American railroad engineer and aviation pioneer. ...
In 2003, a research effort carried out at the School of Aeronautics at Cranfield University, commissioned by the BBC2 television series "Horizon", has shown that Pilcher's design was more or less workable, and had he been able to develop his engine, it is likely he would have succeeded in being the first to fly a heavier-than-air, powered aircraft under control. A replica of Pilcher's aircraft was built, and after some problems, achieved a sustained controlled flight of 1 minute and 26 seconds, significantly longer than the Wright Brothers' first flight. In addition, this was achieved under dead calm conditions, whereas the Wrights needed a steady 25 knot+ wind to achieve enough airspeed on their early attempts. // Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on three campuses. ...
BBC Two (or BBC2 as it was formerly styled) was the second UK television station to be aired by the BBC. History The channel was scheduled to begin at 7:20pm on April 20, 1964 and show an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show The Alberts and...
Horizon is a long-running BBC popular science and history documentary programme. ...
Also see Leonardo da Vincis Ornithopter body. ...
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