Richard Pearse

Richard William Pearse (3 December 1877 — 29 July 1953 ), a New Zealand Farmer and Inventor , experimented with Flying Machine s in the early 20th Century . Following such Aviation pioneers as Clement Ader and Samuel Pierpont Langley , he reputedly flew a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903 , some nine months before the Wright Brothers . The documentary evidence to support such a claim remains open to Interpretation , however, and he does not appear to have matched the Wrights' ultimate achievement of ''controlled'', and ''sustained'' flight.

Pearse started farming on 100 acres (400,000 m²) in 1898 at Waitohi in South Canterbury , but he never became a keen farmer, having much more interest in Engineering . He had wanted to study engineering at an advanced level, but his family did not have the money, having already sent his older brother, Tom, to Medical School . Richard resorted to inventing instead.

BIOGRAPHY

Early Work

In rather than Biplane , tractor rather than pusher propeller, stabiliser and elevators at the back rather than the front, and Aileron s rather than wing-warping for controlling banking. It bore a remarkable resemblance to modern Microlight aircraft.

Flying?

Pearse's design had adequate power-to-weight ratio to get airborne (even without an Aerofoil ), and he incorporated effectively-located (albeit possibly rather small) "ailerons". The design's low centre-of-gravity would also have led to a considerable amount of pendulum stability. However, diagrams and eye-witness recollections agree that Pearse placed controls for pitch and yaw at the trailing edge of the low-aspect ratio kite-type permanently stalled wing. Unfortunately in this position they would have lacked adequate turning moment and were in turbulent air flow.

Pearse made some attempts to fly in 1902 but apparently failed, or achieved no more than brief hops, due to insufficient engine power. He redesigned his engine to incorporate double-ended cylinders with two pistons each, and replicas of this design suggest that it could produce about 15 Horsepower (11 KW ). Components of his engine, including cylinders made from cast-iron drainpipes, were recovered from rubbish dumps at Upper Waitohi 60 years later.

Strong evidence suggests that with this machine Pearse may have achieved a powered, but uncontrolled flight of several hundred metres on 31 March 1903 . Pearse himself said that he had made a powered takeoff, "but at too low a speed for {Link without Title} controls to work". However, he remained airborne until he crashed into the hedge at the end of the field. Verifiable eyewitnesses describe his crashing into this hedge on two separate occasions during 1903. His monoplane must have risen to a height of at least 3 m each time.

Pearse's work was poorly documented at the time. No contemporary newspaper record exists. There are some photographic records, but these are of undated and some images are difficult to interpret. Pearse himself made contradictory statements which for many years led to 1904 being the accepted date among the few who were aware of his feats. It is worth noting that the Wrights had considerable difficulty in getting their accomplishment recognised, despite better documentation and witnesses; there was a "Fliers or Liars?" debate for quite some time after Kitty Hawk , and it took many demonstrations before they were widely recognised. If Pearse, in remote New Zealand, put as little effort into leaving a record as it appears, the muddle about priority is no surprise.

Later Activities

Pearse moved to Milton in Otago in about 1911 and discontinued his flying experiments due to the hillier country there. Much of his experimental work got dumped in a farm rubbish pit. However, he continued experimenting and produced a number of inventions. He subsequently moved to Christchurch in the 1920s , where he built three houses and lived off the rentals.

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s , Pearse continued to work on constructing a tilt-rotor flying machine for personal use — sometimes described as a cross between a windmill and a rubbish cart. His design was similar to an Autogiro or Helicopter but involved a tilting propellor/rotor and monoplane wings. The intention was that the vehicle could be driven on the road, like a car, as well as flown. However he became reclusive and paranoid that his work would be discovered by foreign spies. Pearse was committed to Sunnyside Mental Hospital in Christchurch in 1951 , and died there two years later. It is believed that many of his papers were destroyed at that time.

ANALYSIS

On his death, the Public Trustee administered Pearse's estate. Fortunately for posterity, the trust officer given the task of disposing of his personal effects recognised the significance of his aeronautical achievements and brought them to wider attention. As a result, aviation pioneer George Bolt saw Pearse's last flying machine. In 1958 Bolt excavated the South Canterbury dump site and discovered some components, including a propeller. His research in the 1960s (among eyewitnesses who were mostly schoolchildren at the time) produced strong Circumstantial Evidence for 1903: people who had left the district by 1904 remembered being there, and a particularly harsh winter with heavy snow.

During filming of a television documentary in the 1970s a replica of Pearse's 1902 machine was attached by a rope to a team of horses. When the horses bolted, the machine took to the air and flew, indicating that the design could fly. Unfortunately, this was not filmed as the cameras had been packed away at the end of the day's shooting.

A memorial to Pearse's attempts at powered flight stands near Pleasant Point in South Canterbury.

The Museum Of Transport And Technology in Auckland displays a replica of Pearse's aircraft. For the centenary of Pearse's alleged flight, a replica motor was also made. The two were put together and successfully became airborne, albeit very briefly. Pearse's last flying machine and the scant remains of his first aircraft can also be seen at the museum.

LEGACY

At the dawn of the 20th century, several dozen enthusiasts in many western countries advanced towards powered heavier-than-air flight - a fact easily overlooked due to both the superb accomplishments of the Wright brothers, and the Accident Of Birth that placed them in a nation whose patriotic media and culture came to dominate the century. Pearse is one of several pre-Wright designers who advanced some distance towards controlled flight. However unlike many of these other pre-Wright aeronauts, Pearse had little influence on his successors, because details of his ideas and experiments went unpublished.

Pearse's designs and achievements remained virtually unknown beyond the few who witnessed them and had no impact on his contemporary aviation designers. However, his concepts had far more in common with modern aircraft design than other aviation pioneers. Others have later implemented Pearse's concepts without being aware of his efforts. Pearse has been described as a man ahead of his time as a result. So far ahead of his time in fact that the second New Zealand flight did not happen until 5 February 1910 when Vivian Walsh flew a plane he had built himself.

''Much controversy persists around the many competing claims of early aviators. See First Flying Machine for more discussion.''

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Richard Pearse