PILCHER, PERCY SINCLAIR

born January 1866 died Oct. 2, 1899, Leicestershire, England British engineer, aviation pioneer, and glider experimenter. He began the study of heavier-than-air flight in 1895 under the influence of Otto Lilienthal, whom he twice visited in Germany. In 1895 Pilcher built his first glider, the Bat, which he modified after Lilienthal's ideas and used in many successful glides. His second machine, the Beetle, was also built in 1895, and his third, the Gull, in 1896. With his fourth glider, the Hawk (1896), Pilcher achieved his most productive flying. It was a monoplane, with rear fin and tail plane and a wheeled undercarriage, controlled in the Lilienthal manner of swinging the torso and legs from a hanging position between the wings. He then turned his attention to the problem of powered flying. He had almost completed his first powered machinefor which he had also built the enginewhen on Sept. 30, 1899, the Hawk broke up in the air when Pilcher was gliding in it at Stanford Park, near Market Harborough. Two days later he died from his injuries.