Soaring with Wings - Percy Pilcher Wants To Fly: For Dieter Dengler
Catalogue record
- Author
- Charles E. MacKay
- Subject
- Aviation Biography
- Published
- 8 May 2024
- Publisher
- Charles E. MacKay Books
- Pages
- 171
- Format
- Paperback
- Size
- A5, 148 by 210 millimetres
- ISBN
- 9781838056766
Cite this book
MacKay, Charles E. (2024). Soaring with Wings - Percy Pilcher Wants To Fly: For Dieter Dengler. ISBN 9781838056766. https://charlesmackaybooks.com/books/soaring-with-wings
About this book
A new biography of Percy S. Pilcher and his four years of experimental flying.
ISBN: 9781838056766 - dedicated to the late Dieter Dengler US Navy escaped pilot in the Vietnam war. His was the first escape from Laos in 1966
171 pages profusely illustrated with many rare and interesting pictures and drawings. The book describes his flying at Auchensail, Wallaceton Cardross and in England. There is a history of Cardross with a weather description for 1895 and 1896. His experimental work was influenced by Lilienthal, the great German aircraft pioneer, whom he met twice. He was also in contact with the Australian Hargrave, Octave Chanute in America and was employed by Hiram Maxim of Vickers machine-gun fame. The Wright Brothers used his data when constructing the Wright Flyer.
He displayed his Hawk, which killed him, at Kelvingrove Park and Prof Square, University of Glasgow. The Pilcher Hawk still exists today in Edinburgh.
Read the full description
Pilcher sailed his yachts on the Firth of Clyde and this aspect of his life is fully explored. His two yachts were Gleam and Widow. Gleam was built by the Herreshoff Brothers in America and Widow built by John Paul & Son, Gourock. Herreshoff and John Paul are covered extensively in the appendix. John Herreshoff sailed on the Firth of Clyde out of Gourock and met Pilcher. Percy Sinclair Pilcher lectured at the University of Glasgow and some of his presentations are here described. His sister was instrumental in building the wings and saw him fall to his death like Icarus in September 1899. His death is supported by the Coroner's report and conclusions.
There is a profuse Bibliography and appendix. Printed on high quality paper making it very heavy. Highly recommended in a very limited run.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Percy Pilcher?
Percy Pilcher was a British aviation pioneer who built and flew gliders in the 1890s and was on the verge of powered flight before his fatal crash in 1899.
Where in Scotland and England did Percy Pilcher build and fly his gliders?
Across 171 A5 pages (ISBN 9781838056766), the biography documents Percy Sinclair Pilcher's 1895-1899 glider experiments at Wallaceton and Auchensail near Cardross on the Clyde and in England, his lecturing at the University of Glasgow, his display of the Hawk glider at Kelvingrove Park, and his yachting on the Firth of Clyde from Gourock aboard Gleam and Widow.
How did Pilcher's work connect to Otto Lilienthal, Hiram Maxim, and the Wright Brothers?
Pilcher worked for Hiram Maxim, met German glider pioneer Otto Lilienthal twice, corresponded with Lawrence Hargrave and Octave Chanute, and, the book records, generated data the Wright Brothers used, before his fatal crash at Stanford Hall in September 1899, documented here with the coroner's inquest report.
Published comments on this title
Sources are shown for attribution. These third-party comments are not first-party star ratings. How we choose these comments.
“It is a remarkable piece of scholarship and does Percy justice.”
“The falling scene is brutal to read. I really felt him through the words.”
“This book, however, is a fitting tribute to Percy Pilcher.”
