Richard Pearse
| Richard William Pearse | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
3 December 1877 Temuka, Canterbury Region, New Zealand |
| Died | 29 July 1953 (aged 75) Christchurch, Canterbury Region, New Zealand |
| Occupation | Farmer, inventor |
| Known for | Pioneering flights in heavier-than-air aircraft |
Richard William Pearse (3 December 1877 – 29 July 1953) was a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering experiments in aviation.
It is claimed Pearse flew and landed a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, nine months before the Wright brothers flew their aircraft. The documentary evidence to support such a claim remains open to interpretation, and Pearse did not develop his aircraft to the same degree as the Wright brothers, who achieved sustained controlled flight. Pearse himself never made such claims, and in an interview he gave to the Timaru Post in 1909 only claimed he did not "attempt anything practical ... until 1904". Pearse himself was not a publicity-seeker and also occasionally made contradictory statements, which for many years led some of the few who knew of his feats to offer 1904 as the date of his first flight.
In 1902 Pearse built and patented a bicycle with vertical crank gears and self-inflating tires. He then designed and built a two-cylinder "oil engine"—which he mounted on a tricycle undercarriage surmounted by a linen-covered bamboo wing structure and rudimentary controls. Though it lacked an Aerofoil section wing (the most crucial aspect of an airplane), in general layout his flying machine resembled modern aircraft design more than did the Wright brothers' machine: monoplane rather than biplane; tractor rather than pusher propeller; stabiliser and elevators at the back rather than the front; and ailerons rather than wing-warping for controlling banking (although much the same can be said for the much earlier, and unsuccessful Adar Avion III, excluding the ailerons).
Pearse made several attempts to fly in 1901, but due to insufficient engine power he achieved no more than brief hops (again reminiscent of the Avion III). The following year he redesigned his engine to incorporate double-ended cylinders with two pistons each. Researchers recovered components of his engine (including cylinders made from cast-iron drainpipes) from rubbish dumps in 1963. Replicas of the 1903 engine suggest that it could produce about 15 hp (11 kW).
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