Richard Pearse
Richard William Pearse | |
|---|---|
Richard Pearse in 1903 | |
| Born | 3 December 1877 |
| Died | 29 July 1953 (aged 75) |
| Nationality | British, Dominion of New Zealand |
| Other names | Dick "Aeroplane" Pearse, Bamboo Dick |
| Education | Waitohi Flat School and Upper Waitohi School |
| Occupation(s) | Farmer, inventor |
| Known for | Pioneering flights in heavier-than-air aircraft |
| Relatives | Alfred Pearse Malcolm Sargent Edgar Francis Babst, RAF (cousin): 21 |
| Signature | |
Richard William Pearse (3 December 1877 – 29 July 1953) was a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering aviation experiments. Witnesses interviewed many years afterwards describe observing Pearse flying and landing a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, nine months before the Wright brothers flew.: 21–30 Ambiguous statements made by Pearse himself make it difficult to date the aviation experiments with certainty. In a newspaper interview in 1909, with respect to inventing a flying machine, he said "I did not attempt anything practical with the idea until 1904".
Biographer Gordon Ogilvie credits Pearse with "several far-sighted concepts: a monoplane configuration, wing flaps and rear elevator, tricycle undercarriage with steerable nosewheel, and a propeller with variable-pitch blades."
Pearse largely ended his early flying experiments about 1911 but pioneered novel aircraft and aero-engine invention from 1933 with the development of his "private plane for the million", a foldable single-engined tiltrotor convertiplane.