RICHARD PEARSE 1877-1953

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Richard Pearse", using the Google search engine, (3-20-04), you will find about 4050 links! If you search for "Richard Pearse +aviation", you will still find 568 links! If time permits and you are sufficiently interested, you may want to pursue many of them. If time is limited, perhaps a good place to start is the following.

Man's First Powered Flight      This page on Russell Naughton's wonderful site offers a Tribute by Bill Sherwood entitled "Richard Pearse, Waitohi, New Zealand, March 31, 1902." Russell notes "This essay is reproduced here from the original in a format reworked to match the rest of this site. The original page was not compatible with earlier browsers as is required by the brief for this project. Other images have also been added (01/0002 Ed). To access this important resource, click on the title above.

Richard Pearse Centenary of Flight by Paul Dunlop      This is quite a remarkable website which is characterized by the author as:      "This is a travelogue of a trip made in March 2003 to the Richard Pearse Centenary of Flight airshow. My main reason in going was, of course, to see the celebrations of Richard Pearse's life and work and the two new "replicas" of his 1903 Aeroplane."      This story is told in a sequence of some 28 pages, each bearing a fascinating photograph and an explanation of the scene. It begins with the trip to the Timaru Airport, where the Richard Pearse Centenary of Flight airshow was being held. Most of the subsequent pages are devoted to the actual attempts to fly the two "replicas and include many detailed photos of the planes themselves." To begin the journey, click on the title above.

,

AEROHYDRO      This link is to Paul Dunlop's homepage from where you can link to several of his other sites, including the one above, "Richard Pearse Centenary of Flight." Paul is obviously a man of many related interests and has been kind enough to make them available online. The list includes: Mr Smith's Amazing Sailboats, Microyachts in the Tasman, Model Flying Machines, Richard Pearse Centenary of Flight and Horatio Phillips' 1907 Multiplane. If time permits, I think you will enjoy visiting each of the sites.

 

RECOMMENDED READING

WINGS OVER WAITOHI by Rodliffe, G.   Product Details Publisher: Avon Press in association with G. Rodliffe ISBN:0473050005 Price: $24.95NZD Wings Over Waitohi provides a welcome addition to the sketchy knowledge that most of us have about Richard Pearse and it goes a considerable way to repair the shameful neglect of a true New Zealand heroe. Available from Nationwide Books

FLIGHT OVER WAITOHI by Rodliffe, G.   Product Details Publisher: G. Rodliffe ISBN: 047305048X Price: $14.95NZD This is the story of one of the very first men to fly in a power-driven aeroplane, lifting into the sky on that sunny afternoon, not quite 100 years ago. Especially written for schools. Available from Nationwide Books

 

 

Richard Pearse died in 1953   Editor's Note: If you have any more information on this pioneer aviator please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper

 

Back