Preston Watson

Who was Preston Watson?

Preston Watson was a Scottish aviation pioneer, who is sometimes said to have been the first true aviator. He is supposed to have made and controlled motorized flight with a heavier-than-air aircraft in 1903 - thus predating the Wright brothers flight.

This claim has however been discredited by the aviation historian Charles Gibbs-Smith in the book "The Aeroplane". The man behind the "Powered Flight Before the Wrights" myth was Preston's brother, James, who made the claim in 1953, 50 years after the supposed flight. James would later clear up the issue in an article, which was published in the December 1955 issue of the magazine Aeronautics, explaining that the aircraft in question had been a glider, i.e. unpowered.

The Watson brothers were sons of the prominent Dundee family that made up one half of the Watson & Philip Wholesalers. Preston joined his father in this business but had a keen interest in mechanics that led him to his true calling to fly.

Preston built and adapted 3 planes from 1903 to 1913 all at a cost of £1000 each paid by his father. He also invented a rocking wing system for control which he patented in 1909

Preston was never able to tell his story as he died while training with the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915. The plane exploded above Eastbourne.