Captain Edgar W. Percival

[Anthus Campestris]

I am looking for the dates when Australian aviator Edgar Wikner Percival rose through the ranks in the R.F.C. I have trawled through the online London Gazette and Flight publications, expecting to find the relevant details but to no avail. I thought the London Gazette issued all the military appointments?

I have information to state that he was discharged from the 2nd Light Horse Brigade on the 12th February 1917 and that he joined the R.F.C. a month later...

The London Gazette for 10 August 1917 cites the following:
'ROYAL FLYING CORPS
Mil. Wing.-The undermentioned appts. were made:-
Flying Officers.-3rd Apr. 1917...
2nd. Lt. (on prob.) E. W. Percival, Spec. Res.

The London Gazette for 8 January 1918 cites the following:
'The appt. of the undermentioned is ante-dated as follows:-
2nd Lt. E. W. Percival, Spec. Res., to 13th Mar. 1917...'

Flight reprinted these details in the issue published immediately after those shown above. Does anyone know why he was discharged from the 2nd Light Horse, or what he was doing in the intervening month? Was it purely and simply his desire to join the R.F.C.?

The London Gazette does not mention him again but Flight published on 21st August 1919 states:
THE ROYAL AERO CLUB...
New Members:-The following members were elected:-
Lieut. Edgar Wikner Percival, R.A.F...

On which date did he rise to Lieutenant between Jan 1918 and Aug 1919 and when was he promoted to Captain? Are there any official documents or publication cuttings of the period known to yourselves that give these details.

Over to you...!

[errolmartyn]

For GBP3.50 you can obtain online a copy of his RAF officer record as held in AIR76 at The National Archives:

nationalarchives.gov.uk

And his Australian service record is available for free viewing online at National Archives of Australia:

naa.gov.au

Errol

[Lawrence Milner]

Hi,

I have a fair amount of notes on Percival including two books 'Percival and Hunting Aircaft' by John Silvester and 'Percival Aircraft' byNorman Ellison but the dates and details are not offered (both authors were employed by Percival). It is stated that Percival joined the Australian Light Horse in 1915 and saw service in the Middle East, but soon transferred to the RFC and flew solo after 23 minutes of instruction - after further training in England he returned to the M.E. joining No.111 Squadron and stayed there until the EOW (Ellison). Silvester offers a bit more detail and states that Percival joined the 7th Australian Light Horse and was sent to the M.E. and soon transferred to the R.F.C. After his futher training in England Percival was transferred to No.60 Sqn. commanded by Billy Bishop VC - he was then posted to the M.E. and became a founder member of No.111 Squadron. There doesn't appear to be any mention of his promotions - he was always referred to by his staff as 'Captain'. Is it feasible that he was a Captain as a commercial pilot?
Hope this has been of slight help. Lawrence Milner

[errolmartyn]

"was transferred to No.60 Sqn. commanded by Billy Bishop VC"

Bishop, of course, was never in command of 60 Sqn - just 85 Sqn, and then only for a few months.

Errol

[Anthus Campestris]

Thanks Errol, the purchasing of his records is the best way to clear this up. It was just odd that his promotion to Lieutenant was not mentioned in either publication. But of course if the London Gazette hadn't printed it then Flight wouldn't have, since they merely copied the London Gazette!

Thanks for the book information Lawrence. There does appear to be quite a lot of conflicting information concerning Edgar Percival, details of which alter as the years pass. The Wikipedia entry for Percival has numerous conflicting bits of information. For instance, it states 'After going solo in 20 minutes...' and 'Noted for his flying skills he was promoted to Captain, and later transferred to No. 11 Squadron...'

I'm sure the '11' must be a typing error! I have read a 1932 newspaper that he joined No.1 Squadron following No. 60, so typing errors can creep in anytime, anywhere!

The earliest mention I have found about Percival going solo can be found in Brisbane's Courier Mail, published on 29th September 1936 'After one hour six minutes tuition he went solo!' In fact there are several other similar figures in other 1930's newspapers but none stating 20 or so minutes, so where did this shorter time originate?

Lawrence you are almost certainly right about his 'Captain' appelation being of commercial origin. Flight 5th June 1931 says 'RESERVE OF AIR FORCE OFFICERS...E. W. Percival is granted a commn. in Class A as a Flying Officer on probation (April 20)...'

Flying Officer R.A.F. being equivalent to Lieutenant R.F.C.

He was certainly known as 'Captain Percival' whilst flying commercially from Richmond Aerodrome (next to the family farm) as the Sydney Morning Herald of 3rd February 1921 shows 'A most successful flight under very adverse conditions was made yesterday by Captain Percival in an Avro plane. Mr. C. S. Claney was a passenger.'

The Wikipedia entry also appears stress his intellectual abilities by stating his attendance at Fort Street High School, then enrolling at Sydney Technical College, then applying and receiving an engineering apprenticeship before being accepted at Sydney University. But the Courier Mail article mentioned earlier states that 'lessons bored him and at 14 years of age he found some of the excitement he craved in the occupation of horse breaking.'

It's interesting to learn that the Australian War Memorial website has the following in the Nominal Roll:
'2485 Percival, Edgar Wikner, Private, Farmer'
No mention of 'student' or 'apprentice'. Very odd.

The 7th Light Horse regiment was a part of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade when in Egypt in 1916. Apparently the horses used were unsuitable for the work required of them and so the 2nd Light Horse were given an infantry role. Most of the month prior to Percival joining the R.F.C. would have been taken up by travelling to Britain.

Thanks again, Ian