Edgar Percival - Percival Aircraft Company

Percival Aircraft Company

Percival's interest in aircraft technology led him to design the Saro Percival Mail Carrier (1930), one of a series of collaborative projects with Saunders Roe Ltd.. Having had interests in the company which he sold in 1932, Percival began searching for an established manufacturer to produce a "light" aeroplane that he had designed which he called the "Percival Gull." Finding no company willing and able to take on production, Percival consequently started his own aircraft company as the Percival Aircraft Company. In collaboration with Lt. Cdr E.B.W. Leake (who was to become co-founder of Percival Aircraft), he arranged for the prototype Gull (registered as G-ABUR) to be produced by the Lowe-Wylde British Aircraft Company of Maidstone, Kent.

Running the business from his private address in London (20, Grosvenor Square), Percival then arranged for series production to be contracted out to George Parnall & Sons, of Yate, Gloucestershire, an arrangement that lasted two years. Percival Aircraft was officially formed in 1933. In 1934, after 24 Gulls had been produced at Parnalls, Percival set up his own factory at London Gravesend Airport, Kent.

Edgar Percival's aircraft were renowned for their graceful lines and outstanding performance. As a noted test pilot, Percival continued to fly his own creations; in 1935, he flew a Gull from England to Morocco and back to England, winning the Oswald Watt Gold Medal. He was the first pilot to fly from Britain to Africa and back in one day. He left Gravesend at 1.30am and returned to Croydon at 6.20pm. "Day trips in the future will be as commonplace as trips to Margate" he said in a broadcast at nine o'clock. Other famous aviators were associated with Percival aircraft; in 1933, Charles Kingsford Smith flew a Percival Gull Four named Miss Southern Cross from England to Australia in the record breaking time of 7 days, 4 hours and 44 minutes. The New Zealand aviatrix, Jean Batten, also used the Percival Gull to fly from England to Australia in October 1936. A pure racing derivative of the Gull series, the Percival Mew Gull flown by other illustrious pilots such as Alex Henshaw and Tom Campbell Black would go on to set many speed and distance records in the 1930s.

In late 1936, Percival transferred production to larger facilities at the newly built Luton Corporation Airport in Bedfordshire. A two-bay hangar was constructed to accommodate the workshops while the design offices were set up in the original Georgian farmhouse situated nearby. Production at Luton was then primarily focused on the Vega Gull. A small twin-engined machine, the Q6 was also produced in limited quantities, using a pair of de Havilland Gipsy Six Series II powerplants equipped with variable-pitch airscrews. Again, the same basic method of construction was employed and the finished result was an aesthetically pleasing and aerodynamically clean feederliner of its day that represented the final new design produced by the company prior to Edgar Percival selling his interests in the company.