Percival Spencer; Longtime Aviator, Inventor
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Percival Spencer, an aviator and inventor who made his first solo flight in 1914, has died in Torrance, it was learned over the weekend.
He was 97 and died Jan. 15.
In 1986, he was honored by the Early Birds of Aviation, a society of those who flew solo before 1916. The group called Spencer the dean of American pilots, with “the longest active flight record in aviation history.” He was a licensed pilot until 1987.
He built an amphibian car in the early 1940s. Republic Aviation Corp. bought Spencer’s patent on the plane in 1943 and built the Republic Sea Bee based on his design.
Spencer’s other inventions included the ornithopter, a rubber band-powered flying toy that was sold to the Wham-O corporation in the 1950s.
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