Percival H. Spencer
| Percival Hopkins Spencer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 April 1897 Windsor, Connecticut |
| Died | January 16, 1995 (aged 97) Torrance, California |
| Parent(s) | Christopher Miner Spencer |
Percival Hopkins Spencer (April 30, 1897 – January 16, 1995) was an American inventor, aviation pioneer, test pilot, and businessman.
He was born on April 30, 1897 to Christopher Miner Spencer (1833-1922), the inventor of, among other things, the Spencer repeating rifle.
The then 14-year-old Spencer built his first pontooned hang glider in April 1911 from plans he found in a Popular Mechanics magazine. On May 15, 1914, Spencer made his first powered flight in a Curtiss flying boat. In 1929, he broke the light airplane altitude record—18,571 ft (5,660 m)—piloting a Curtiss Robin monoplane. Spencer was the president of Amphibians Inc. for three years selling amphibian designs.
In 1937, he joined Sikorsky engineer Victor A. Larsen to form the Spencer-Larsen Aircraft Corporation and design their first, and only, amphibious aircraft, the Spencer-Larsen SL-12C. Development of the plane progressed slowly and in September 1940, Spencer left the partnership to form his own company, the Spencer Aircraft Company.
His resulting design was the Spencer S-12 Air Car Amphibian. Construction began on March 1, 1941. The small, two-seat S-12 prototype, registration NX29098, made its first flight on August 8, 1941. The S-12 was a fabric-covered amphibian with a unique boxlike forward cabin; a high wing with a two-bladed propeller in pusher configuration; and a long, slender tail boom.
In December 1941, Spencer put the Air Car into storage and joined the war effort as a test pilot for the Republic Aircraft Corporation. By 1943, he had flight tested 134 of the company's P-47 Thunderbolts.
In April 1943, Spencer left Republic Aircraft for the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago, Illinois, which wanted to use his Air Car to promote the company. Spencer used the company's wood forming equipment to build a new egg-shaped cabin for the Air Car and began demonstrating the aircraft to his former employers, Republic Aircraft.
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