Percival Mew Gull - Type History

Type History

The King's Cup was a handicap race dating back to 1922; each racing result was compared to the time that the committee decided each contestant should have completed the course. The greater the margin by which an entry beat its prescribed time, the better was its chance of winning. Initially King George V was to present a cup to the winner, and like the Schneider Trophy, the same cup would be engraved and awarded to the new winner each year. After the first year's race it was decided that a new cup would be presented each year.

Percival entered the King's Cup Race in July 1934, but failed to place. The original E1 was redesigned following an accident into the much-refined E2 configuration, with much of the design work completed by Arthur Bage. In July 1935, with a 180 hp French Regnier installed, G-ACND competed in the Coupe Armand Esders, a race of 1,046 miles from Deauville, France to Cannes and back. The Mew Gull was flown by Count de Chateaubrun, the Percival representative in France, and averaged 188 mph in the race. Immediately after, the original British de Havilland Gipsy Six was reinstalled. Guy de Chateaubrun subsequently became the only pilot to bail out of a Mew Gull, abandoning G-ACND because of fog.

In September 1935 Percival placed 1st in a 120-mile (190 km) race, and in July 1936 he finished 4th in the King's Cup Race flying G-AEKL, the third Mew Gull and first "production" E2H. Later in August, Percival finished 7th in the 174-mile race for the Folkestone Trophy.

In September 1936 G-AEKL, having previously been Edgar Percival's private mount, was re-engined and modified to enter in the Schlesinger Race. The Schlesinger African Air Race was a race from England to South Africa (6,154 miles), but G-AEKL was withdrawn ten days before the Schlesinger following a fatal taxiing accident at Liverpool Speke Airport. Two other E2H Mew Gulls were entered, both of which had been built at the same time to the same specification as the modified 'KL. Both failed to finish the race to South Africa. In the 1937 King's Cup Race, the rebuilt and re-painted G-AEKL was 1st with Charles Gardner at the controls in his house-colours of dark blue with pale-blue lettering and trim. He averaged 234 mph over the 1,442-mile course. Percival flew his latest E3H "Super"-Mew G-AFAA, the sixth and last Mew Gull built, to a third place finish and still another E2H, G-AEXF was raced by Alex Henshaw.

The 1938 King's Cup Race was a 1,012 mile event and this time, Alex Henshaw's much modified E2H G-AEXF came in 1st at 236 mph and Giles Guthrie in his "standard" E2H G-AEKL placed 2nd. Edgar Percival flew a third Mew Gull, the E3H (G-AFAA) and finished 6th. Percival might easily have won, but as well as being made scratch-man by the Handicappers, he left the fine-tuning of his airscrew pitches until just before the race and his ground-crew were still tinkering with them as Alex' Henshaw took off. At this time the Bracket-Type airscrew simply did not have the pitch-range to cope with the exceptionally wide speed range of the E3H (59-265 mph.). An optimisation for either cruise or takeoff and climb would inevitably compromise the other.

Alex Henshaw attempted to take the England - Cape Town Record in 1939, taking off on 5 February 1939 from Gravesend Airport, landing at Wingfield Aerodrome at the Cape the next day, covering the 6,377 miles course in 39 hours and 25 minutes, averaging 209.44 mph while in the air. The return trip was just 11 minutes longer. It is interesting to note that during all of Alex Henshaw's adventures in this aircraft it was never damaged.

Henshaw sold G-AEXF to Frenchman Victor Vermoral in late 1939. During the Second World War, the aircraft was stored in a hangar in France with several owners continuing to hide it from German authorities. In 1950, Hugh Scrope found and bought and with Doug Bianchi's help, refurbished the aircraft to fly it back home to England. After restoration, G-AEXF continued its racing career but it was damaged in a landing accident in August 1951 at Shoreham. J.N. Somers, the next owner repaired it and raced G-AEXF again. A new owner, Ernest Crabtree, flew it last in the 1965 Manx Air Derby. By this time however, other owners had further altered this historic aircraft, resulting in lowered performance. Eventually, the derelict aircraft, found its way into the hands of a poorly run museum, where it became damp, had its wings crudely sawn off, and many parts lost to souvenir hunters. In this state, Tom Storey and Martin Barraclough acquired the aircraft and rebuilt it during the late 1970s. Wishing to make the aircraft more practical to operate, a configuration closer to its original design was chosen, making G-AEXF look somewhat like an E2H/E3H hybrid, painted in the white and British Racing Green she wore when owned by Alex Henshaw in the 1930s. XF was again damaged at Redhill in late 1983, when an Auster taxied into it. 'XF continued to be operated in the configuration as rebuilt by Storey and Barraclough until it was offered for sale.

Desmond Penrose was the next owner, who based the machine at Old Warden. The aircraft was written-off two further times. One at the time of purchase and again a few years later. After the first of these rebuilds, the machine was re-configured to resemble its configuration for the 1939 Cape flight. G-AEXF was very extensively rebuilt yet again for a third time and continued to operate from Old Warden for some time until sold-on.

In 2002, G-AEXF was sold to the current owner, Rob Fleming, and is now operated by The Real Aeroplane Company at the Breighton Aerodrome, Yorkshire, UK. XF was temporarily shipped over to the USA to fly in a "demonstration race" at the 2003 National Championship Air Races at Reno, Nevada, the first Mew Gull to touch American soil.

In 2012, G-AEXF is still operating from Breighton, 76 years after her original incarnation.