First World War
After the declaration of war, Edgar Percival joined the 7th Australian Light Horse in 1915, being stationed in the Middle East, but by 1916 he transferred to the British Army's Royal Flying Corps (RFC). After going solo in 20 minutes in 1917, he was assigned to a combat squadron in France flying fighters in Billy Bishop's No. 60 Squadron. Percival flew many sorties accompanying the Canadian ace. Noted for his flying skills, he was promoted to Captain, and later transferred to No. 11 Squadron as one of its founding members, seeing service in the Middle East and Greece. In 1918, while still in the services and posted to Egypt, Percival designed his first powered aircraft, "a special-purpose aircraft based on the Bristol F.2B, with the Rolls-Royce Eagle engine."
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Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“I date the end of the old republic and the birth of the empire to the invention, in the late thirties, of air conditioning. Before air conditioning, Washington was deserted from mid-June to September.... But after air conditioning and the Second World War arrived, more or less at the same time, Congress sits and sits while the presidents—or at least their staffs—never stop making mischief.”
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