The Percival Mew Gull was a British racing aircraft of the 1930s. It was a small, single-engine, single-seat, low-wing monoplane of wooden construction, normally powered by a six-cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Six piston engine. During its racing career it set many records and was considered a significant, efficient design, one that eventually reached a top speed of 265 mph (425 km/h) on a modest 205 hp (153 kW) in its final 1939 form. A modern-day observer has characterised the Mew Gull as "the Holy Grail of British air racing". During the second half of the 1930s, Mew Gulls were dominant in air-racing in the UK and consistently recorded the fastest times until the outbreak of war stopped all civilian flying in late 1939. With the Percival Gull already making a name for itself as a racer, over several months in 1933–1934, Capt. Edgar W. Percival designed and built a single-seat racer derivative initially named the E1 'Mew Gull'. This was developed into the E2, E2H and the E3H variants between 1934 and 1938. The sometimes-used designation "P6" is incorrect; this retrospective tag was created after Percival left the company and long after the Mew Gulls were built, thus no Mew Gulls were ever built as "P6s". With the exception of the sole E3H, G-AFAA – which was built after the company moved to Luton, all of the Mew Gulls were built in the small factory at Gravesend. The E3H, whilst very strongly visually resembling the E2H, was in truth a totally new and different machine, with each element differing from its predecessor in some way. It was most certainly not a 'clipped-wing' version of the E2H as it has sometimes been described. Structurally, there was very little commonality of parts between the Gulls IV/ VI/ Vega Gull and the Mew Gull, other than a few minor components. All of the Gulls, however, did use a similar generic structure. Proprietary equipment such as engines, airscrews, spinners, instruments, undercarriage legs, wheels and tyres were generally common to all series. The Mew Gulls (apart from the E1 in its initial configuration) used a fixed, conventional oleomatic main undercarriage and a fully castoring tailskid. Small manually-operated, split trailing-edge wing flaps were incorporated into the mainplanes, but were "...singularly ineffective even when fully extended". The aircraft was designed for handicapped air racing which gained huge popularity in the UK during the 1920s and especially 1930s – the so-called "Golden Age" of aviation. The King's Cup Race, an annual handicapped air racing event developed to aid in the development of British light aircraft, was considered to be the "Blue-Riband" event. Ultimately, Mew Gulls went on to win this event four times. The prototype G-ACND first flew in March 1934 with a 165 hp Napier Javelin, but it was replaced with a more powerful and reliable 200 hp Gipsy Six engine, fitted with a fixed-pitch airscrew, prior to its first race. For the history of the type, click here.
