Stanford Hall (Percy Sinclair Pilcher)

[stevie]

Here's a fine memorial to Percy Sinclair Pilcher who lost his life on this very spot in the grounds of Stanford Hall on the 30th of September 1899 flying his own design. A glider called "the Hawk". One of several craft that he designed. In the year of his death he was even looking into the concept of attatching a small engine to one of his designs. Had he have achieved this he would have beaten the Wright Brothers to the first powered flight in the world. Sadly this wasn't to be and whilst performing a demonstration at Stanford Hall for the Aeronautical Society in far from favourable weather conditions (which he wasn't happy about flying in) the Hawk's tail cracked causing the glider and Pilcher to plummet to the ground from around 30 ft. He died two days later on 2nd October 1899. There is a faithful replica of the Hawk displayed at the Hall's museum. Unfortunatly the Hall was closed on my visit today so i couldn't get any pics of it. A return visit is planned. -













Steve

[airfields man]

We called there about 3 years ago to photograph the above memorial....it was closed. So took a few of the closed entrance and left disgruntled to put it nicely. Good photographs there.

[REF]

Great photos Steve, good to see you finally got there!! One I am regulary driving past but its always to late to stop and find it!

[stevie]

Thanks chaps. It was nice to photograph something a bit different for a change.

Airfields man - You can still view the memorial/monument regardless of whether Stanford Hall is open or not as it's just off a public footpath that cuts through the grounds of the Hall. It's just here in case you plan to make a re-visit at some point in the future -

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=stan...h&z=19&vpsrc=6

The footpath runs alongside the edge of the field thats towards the top of the screen.

Cheers,
Steve

[airfields man]

Many thanks for that Stevie, I've no-idea when we'll get up there again, but worth knowing that it's still possible to see even when closed. Cheers for that.