Ask to use material, get more information or tell us about an item
Warne Pearse, brother of pioneer New Zealand aviator Richard Pearse, tells of his brother's first aircraft construction and flight.
Warne Pearse tells of the plane's construction and flight on 31 March 1904 [1902?]. Pearse had a farm at Waitohi near Timaru. He read of a reward offered for the first plane to fly. He built his own - it had a 45 foot wingspan, 25 horsepower motor, and a 4 foot four blade propeller. Later, he made a plane with a 90 horsepower engine. Richard Pearse made everything himself.
The first plane crashed into a gorse hedge after the flight. In about 1920, Pearse made a second plane [which is now in the Auckland Museum]. It was designed for a shortened take off.
[NB Richard Pearse died in 1953, though Warne mentions 1958.]