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FROM THE FLYING PIONEERS BIOGRAPHIES OF HAROLD E. MOREHOUSE

PERCIVAL H. SPENCER
New England Pioneer Aviator - Engineer

Percival H. Spencer was born at Windsor, Connecticut, April 30, 1897.  He attended local grade schools and High School in Hartford, Connecticut.

As a boy he became very interested in aviation and built a Chanute-type biplane glider with which he became airborne April 2d, 1911 on a slope near his home.  He then made a seaplane [[strikethrough]]type[[strikethrough]] glider and succeeded [[strikethrough]]to make[[strikethrough]] in making some flights from the Connecticut River, towed by a motorboat.  His next project was a flying boat, powered by a 4-cylinder Roberts [[strikethrough]]Motor[[strikethrough]] engine, which he flew successfully in May 1914 while still in High School.  He even carried passengers on short hops that summer with this plan.  He also made a Curtiss-type pusher biplane during the summer months, which he flew successfully at Charter Oak Park, Hartford, in December.

These activities continued through 1915 and during that time Spencer built another twin-float hydro biplane glider for towed flights, and in 1916 he flew the new Spencer-Carlyle flying boat at Hartford, carrying passengers that season.  It was a pusher biplane with Curtiss-type hull and Wright-type wings, 39-foot span upper wing, 30-foot lower.  The craft was powered by a 6-cylinder Roberts engine.  

Later in 1916 Spencer was employed by the L.W.F. Engineering Company, Incorporation at College Point, Long Island, New York, then through World War I and into

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[[image of Spencer H. Percival]]