Edward Purkis Frost

Edward Purkis Frost (1842 – 1922) was an English pioneer of aviation. He built ornithopters, and became president of the Aeronautical Society.

E.P. Frost lived at West Wratting Hall in Cambridgeshire and became a Justice of the Peace.

Frost began studying flight in 1868 and built a large steam-powered flying machine with both fixed and flapping wings from 1870 to 1877. Frost had intended to have a 20-25 hp steam engine but the actual engine with 5 hp was not powerful enough to lift the ornithopter from the ground. The experiment cost Frost £1000. In collaboration with several colleagues he started another large similar craft in 1902 with an internal combustion engine. Sources are conflicted about the success of this aircraft. One source alledges that it lifted from the ground in 1904. Another, however directly contradicts this assertion, claiming that it was suspended from a tree and could be observed to rise slightly on every downbeat of the wings. A wing from this craft is displayed in London's Science Museum.



Frost had been a member of the Aeronautical Society since 1875 and became its president from 1908 to 1911.