Percy Pilcher and the Challenge of Flight

British aviation pioneer Percy Pilcher was a determined inventor who designed, built and flew hang gliders from 1895 until his death in a flying accident in 1899. He was a courageous individual who struggled to build a stable, controllable glider and was the first Briton to fly in a heavier-than-air aircraft. He was also the first to lose his life in a flying accident to such a machine. This book looks at his life and work, and the influence of other pioneers in Europe, Australia and the USA. It also appraises his accomplishments and his influence on others. The story of a visionary man who gave his life to the conquest of the skies over one hundred years ago.