Richard Pearse beats Wright Brothers
Posted on 19. Dec, 2009 by charles in Inventors, Life Stories, Places
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Have you heard of Richard Pearse? If not, read on as you may be surprised. I was when I learned that he had flown a plane before the Wright Brothers. The picture shows a replica of his plane on a monument. While looking for amazing people, I came across Richard’s name. He lived in the South Island of New Zealand. An engineer by profession, in his spare time he built a plane with an engine attached. Living along way from the major cities of the world there were few people who knew what he was doing. His first efforts were in 1902, when he patented a new form of bicycle that he adapted as tricycle to the undercarriage of his home built plane. On the 31st March 1903, the people near his village were stunned to see a machine flying through the air. The plane, made of wood, bicycle wheels and small motor mower type engine, was flown by Richard Pearse aged 25.
Perhaps even more amazing is that he survived a number of crash landings. They did not deter him from flying again. By 1903, he had improved his plane and could fly several hundred metres with a 15 horsepower or 11 kW engine. You may ask, what did he do with his great invention. The answer is very little. He was more interested in his farm and enjoying his hobby, rather than touring the world to market his invention. After all, it would have been very costly in those days to travel from New Zealand to the USA or Europe by a slow boat. He stayed on his farm and designed a flying machine that could be pulled apart and stored in an large garage.In addition, it seems that Richard was more introverted than most. Sadly, in his seventies, he suffered from delusions and imagined foreign spies were going to steal his inventions. He spent the last two years of his life in a mental hospital.
By that time, the myth of the Wright Brothers had taken over. They had access to a better publicity machine. But, if anyone asks you who made the first powered flight there is good reason to say that Richard Pearse beat the Wright Brothers by nine months. An amazing story given that he did it by himself, without financial support from others or a team of people to help him. Richard was born on December 3rd 1877 and lived to 1953, by which time he was able to see commercial and war planes racing across the sky and the advent of the jet engine. What would have said if he had seen the new Boeing 787 which is a result of what he started?
Thanks to stevenjgarne for the use the flickr photo
