Eynsford flying sites
Note: This map gives only my very rough guess as to where Pilcher may have conducted his experiments. I will welcome advice, suggestions and comment on everything listed below.
EYNSFORD: Early gliding site
Operated by: Percy Pilcher
Location: 2nm SE of Swanley (near the M25/M20 interchange)
Period of operation: 1895 to 1899
NOTES: Percy Pilcher built several gliders, (often flying from here), and on the 12th September 1895 he succeeded in making what is generally recognised as being the first ever fully controlled flight in the British Isles. You will probably find several records making this claim relating to Pilcher’s early gliding experiments but it really does seem that his initial attempts actually took place at WALLACETOWN FARM near Cardross in DUNBARTONSHIRE, (now situated in ARGYLE & BUTE).
It seems his first tentative hops therefore took place in Scotland towards the end of June 1985. In fact it seems he tried three designs in Scotland, the ‘Bat’, ‘Beetle’ and ‘Gull’ before moving to KENT with his most successful design, the ‘Hawk’ which he flew from EYNSFORD although this glider was apparently constructed in Glasgow.
MORE INFORMATION
I discovered in 2013 more details about Pilcher at EYNSFORD in I Never Knew That About The English by Christopher Winn. To quote: “In 1896, in a big shed by the road to Upper Austin Lodge (now a golf course), aviation pioneer PERCY PILCHER built a glider constructed mainly from bamboo and weighing less than 50 pounds (23kg), which he called the Hawk. He spent many hours gliding the Hawk off a hilltop named the Knob, experimenting with and refining techniques for flying through the air. (I’ll bet he now regrets penning those last few words?) Unaided he could glide for 100 yards, and with the aid of a pulley he could soar for over a quarter of a mile (0.4km).”
What really gets my imagination going is what Mr Winn has to say next. “The next step was to build a plane with an engine and so achieve powered flight. For this Percy designed a four-horsepower engine and a propeller, but the real problem was to create a new wing that could provide enough lift for the combined weight of engine, pilot and plane. Increasing the wing area also increased the weight, requiring more lift and hence a bigger wing, and so on. A friend of Percy’s, Octave Chanute, was making progress with two small, light wings stacked one on top of the other, making a biplane, but Percy went one better and came up with a triplane, with three sets of wings.”
But, here’s the clincher. “On paper, the triplane worked perfectly.” Later on Mr Winn mentions that; “In 2003 an aviation historian called Philip Jarrett tracked down the designs of Percy Pilcher’s triplane and had a replica constructed. Remarkably, it achieved a controlled flight of one minute and 26 seconds – considerably longer than the Wright brothers managed on their celebrated first flight in 1903.” Or to be strictly accurate regarding the Wright brothers attempt, it was a ‘hop’ - not flight.
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER
This seems to be an area of immense historical importance which now deserves considerable investigation. The ‘act of genius’ by the Wright brothers was to get a photographer to record their first ‘hop’ and to claim it as a flight which the ignorant press picked up on. As pointed out elsewhere this really is a great shame because the two brothers did, without much if any doubt, later perfect the very first practical aeroplane in semi-secrecy near their home in Dayton, Ohio..
Various people had been performing similar ‘hops’ for many years around this time but attached, quite rightly, little if any importance to them, being purely experimental and brief excursions into the air. Indeed, for example, it now appears that the great self-publicist and showman Samuel Cody never actually claimed he was the first to ‘fly’ in the UK. That accolade has befallen on him many years later.
WILL WE EVER KNOW?
Pilcher was killed demonstrating the ‘Hawk’ from STANFORD HALL in LIECESTERSHIRE on the 30th September 1899 in front of a large gathering of wealthy and influential people. So for what, one might reasonably ask, did this assembly gather? One theory, not at all unreasonable, was that he was seeking patronage.
What is most significant though is that it is claimed that before visiting STANFORD HALL Pilcher already had a fifth design well under way; this time a powered aeroplane with an engine that had been built, tested and ready for flight! Another theory is emerging that Pilcher had his powered aircraft assembled and ready for a demonstration flight at STANFORD HALL and he was there mainly to promote sponsorship to develop this design and, as said, quite a crowd of suitable sponsors had assembled on the day. Mostly though it is reckoned he only brought the ‘Hawk’ to demonstrate.
Even if this is correct it would seem highly unlikely Pilcher, a most methodical experimenter it seems, had not made a few proving ‘hops’ or ‘flights’ before seeking financial sponsorship to advance the project? At this point some claim Pilcher was working for or with Hiram Maxim, (or just had been), and Maxim was a stickler for methodical testing and development. See BALDWYN PARK in SURREY for more information on Maxim’s truly giant flight test machine, which did actually “fly” albeit only briefly and unintentionally in July 1894.
AN ASSUMPTION?
Therefore, if it had not been for that tragic accident at STANFORD HALL in 1899, the 32 year old Percy Pilcher might well have been the first person in the world to undertake a powered and controlled ‘flight’ or ‘hop’, albeit it seems the initial version had to be launched downhill.
(Don’t forget the Wright brothers needed catapult assistance in their initial powered flight experiments). Even so, Pilcher was obviously making enormous progress very quickly and still had a three year advantage on the Wright brothers! I suppose we will never know of course - but who can say. Even today historical written records of all kinds are still being discovered, and, I suspect, a lot might depend on the people making these discoveries being able to realise their true worth.
EYNSFORD: Military Landing Ground
NOTES: There seems sufficient evidence to prove there was a Home Defence Night Landing Ground near Eynsford in 1915.
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