Edgar Percival
Edgar Wikner Percival ( born February 23, 1897 in Albury, Australia, † 21 January 1984) was a British pilot and aircraft designer.
Life
Edgar Wikner Percival was the grandchild of Pontus Wikner. After the completion of the Sydney Technical College, he studied at Sydney University.
Percival served during the First World War, first in the 7th Australian Light Horse, and later the Royal Flying Corps in the No. 60 Squ. on the Western Front - temporarily under Billy Bishop - and the no. 111 Squ. in the Middle East. During his RAF service in Egypt, he constructed an aircraft based on the Bristol F.2B that he flew and tested. Eventually, he was promoted to the rank of captain.
After demobilization in Egypt, he bought three surplus aircraft of the RAF (two Avro and DH6 ) and shipped it to Australia. He ran there and then with the aircraft a charter airline. 1924 wrote the Australian aviation club from a competition for the most modern light aircraft, Percival was able to win. He received 94 % of the total premium over 1000 pounds. Furthermore, he was able to gain some air racing at this time, such as the Melbourne Herald Air Race.
In 1929 he returned to Britain to become a test pilot of the Air Ministry there. During his work at the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1930 he designed and built the prototype of the Percival Gull, the first cantilever low-wing aircraft in the area of the British Empire at all.
His extensive experience in the design and operation of aircraft and last but not least, the commercial success of the Gull led in 1933 to the founding of the Percival Aircraft Co. Percival was chief engineer and CEO in one person. His designs bribed by clear lines and high performance. Required to record a flight with a Percival Gull Four Charles Kingsford Smith only 7 days, 4 hours and 50 minutes to get from England to Australia.
More Records with the Vega Gull were set by the New Zealand pilot Jean Batten, for example 1936 on the route New England New Zealand. Your Vega Gull is exhibited at the Auckland International Airport.
During World War II Percival went to the United States in 1944 and sold his shares in the Percival Aircraft Ltd.. to the Hunting Group. In 1948 he became an American citizen. In 1954, Percival decided, with the Edgar Percival Aircraft Ltd.. to make again independently to realize more of its own ideas.