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."
Read more about this topic: Edgar Percival
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“Camp is a vision of the world in terms of style—but a particular kind of style. It is the love of the exaggerated, the “off,” of things-being-what-they-are-not.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“The contention that a standing army and navy is the best security of peace is about as logical as the claim that the most peaceful citizen is he who goes about heavily armed. The experience of every-day life fully proves that the armed individual is invariably anxious to try his strength. The same is historically true of governments. Really peaceful countries do not waste life and energy in war preparations, with the result that peace is maintained.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)