Just thought I’d share a bit of light news .
It’s all a humungous “maybe”. Richard Pearce himself dated the flight as happening either in 1904 or 1905 – and as the story states, it’s mainly down to “eyewitness accounts”, with the fallibility of memory.
Still, it’s a neat piece of Kiwiana folklore. Most New Zealanders, however, say: “Richard who?”
There’s another name in the mix as well. Gustave A. Whitehead.
The article ends
There are quite a few contenders for possible flights earlier than the Wright Brothers. I’ve got an article submitted to Teemings on just this topic. Most of the contenders are pretty questionable (Like the Ezekiel Airship), but there’s one almost-undoubted success wayyyy before the Wright Brothers. Of course, his ship was unmanned, but it was an engine-powered heavier-than-air ship.
In that article, the most important line is:
If I recall (I did a bit of research on the Wrights a few years ago), Orville & Wilbur’s great achievement is considered to be control, rather than just getting off the ground. A few other folks managed to get into the air for a few seconds and then crash.
I have no problem giving Pearse his “props” (groan!) for what he accomplished. My only problem is that, when subjects like this come up, they’re almost always accompanied by
- a smug derisiveness
- an ethnic pride agenda
Most of us are aware that great discoveries and great inventions rarely take place in a vacuum. At any given moment, there are dozens or hundreds of brilliant men and women working in any given area, and many are close to making the same breakthroughs or discoveries.
Wilbur Wright WAS a genius… but if he’d failed, it’s pretty certain that one of his contemporaries (Pearse or someone else) would have succeeded, and we’d still have airplanes today.
Alexander Graham Bell WAS a genius… but there were many equally brilliant men working on similar technologies, and if he hadn’t patented the telephone when he did, someone else would have soon, and we’d still have global telecommunication.
There were many aviation pioneers besides the Wright Brothers, and there were many communications pioneers besides Bell. I’m always happy to see these people get some credit. I just wish accounts of their accomplishments didn’t always seem to begin, “You probably learned in school that so-and-so invented the whatchamacallit. Ha! That shows what an idiot your teacher was! So-and-so ripped off the brilliant Someone-or-other, who did the same thing years earlier.”
A few highlights of Kiwi invention.
There are at least two dubious honours on that list: Pearce’s fight, and the “buzzy bee”, which someone recently traced back to an American toy. Apart from that (because NZ is a multi-ethnic society), it’s nationalistic pride that has us draw up lists like this. Half of that stuff, at least, the ordinary Bob and Sheila in the street wouldn’t know about, anyway. 
I’ve been to the paddock where he supposedly made his flight. Dull paddock, very dull. I bet Kittyhawk isn’t a dull paddock 
I feel the need to defend family honour. Orville and Wilbur were first!
(If only I got royalties somehow…)
what was the bet, and who paid off?
Don’t forget the Ezekiel Airship!
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/Southwest/12/17/ezekiel.aircraft/