Percy Pilcher was born in Bath, England in 1867. In 1891 he flew his glider named The Bat for the first time and met Otto Lilienthal, the German gliding expert. Pilcher built two more gliders - The Beetle and The Gull. In 1869 Otto Lilienthal was killed when his glider crashed and Pilcher became the favourite to build the world's first aeroplane. Pilcher 's next glider was called The Hawk. He broke the world record for flight in this glider.

Pilcher then built a triplane which had a small engine that drove two propellers. On 30th September 1899 Percy Pilcher planned to test his new triplane in front of a large crowd . As the weather was bad he was unable to attempt the first powered flight. To please the crowd Pilcher flew his glider The Hawk instead. However the wire in the tail snapped when he was 9 metres off the ground and he crashed. Percy Pilcher died two days later.

Anne Jakins (February, 2004)