Percy Pilcher And His Flying Machines
- Charles Rennie Macintosh
- [Flying Machine History in Argyll]
- Burrell Collection
- Royal Concert Hall and Glasgow SECC
Magnificent Men And Their Flying Machines!
Percy Pilcher developed his first flying machines just a few hundred yards from Kirkton House - just north of Cardross, and this, several years before the Wright Brothers claimed the first motor driven flight!
There are pictures of Mr Pilcher and his 'contraptions' that were taken in a field in front of a farmhouse, behind Kirkton House.
The little known Percy moved on elsewhere to pursue his development of flying machines - and he would have been famous except that he became over ambitious to demonstrate his tri-plane powered machine, which bad weather prohibited, so he decided to please his audience with a glider flight at Stanford Hall in Leicestershire instead.
This went disasteriously wrong and sadly resulted in his death. His powered flying machine was not flown until nearly a century later when a replica was constructed from his plans.
References: - spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk - guardian.co.uk