Early engineering work A hint of Pearse's earliest flying machine work at
Waitohi,
South Canterbury, came from Jean Currie, in her 20s at the time. When interviewed by researchers Tom Bradley and Geoff Rodliffe she recalled that quite some time before her family moved from Waitohi Flat to Morven in 1899, her father, Thomas Currie, farmer, and uncle, Alexander McClintock, blacksmith, had walked up to Pearse's workshop one Sunday only to return soon after, saying: "If he gets that contraption in the air he will fall out and kill himself." Though others spoke of Pearse working on his plane at the turn of the century or during the
Boer War, Currie's account is dateable by Thomas Currie's acquisition of land in the Waikakahi Estate ballot of March 1899 and the family's departure from Waitohi. In later years, Wood told
George Bolt and Harold Cederman that Pearse had visited him "in 1901 and 1902, and was shown how to make spark plugs with the central electrode insulated by mica. Wood also helped him with the design of surface carburettors." At some point Pearse mounted the earlier two-cylinder engine within the flying machine—a
tricycle undercarriage surmounted by a fabric-covered
bamboo wing structure. In general layout the machine resembled modern aircraft design:
monoplane rather than
biplane;
tractor rather than
pusher propeller. Witnesses tended to agree that the flying machine had no tail section. Pearse's interest in engineering was not confined to aviation. In 1902, at Waitohi, Pearse invented a novel
bell-crank pedal lever type bicycle with self-inflating
tyres. Messrs. Martin and Co. of
Christchurch built the bicycle, and Pearse made key components himself. Traveling up to Christchurch, he filed a patent application for the invention, via his newly appointed patent agent Henry Hughes, with the
Christchurch Patent Office on 8 February 1902 (New Zealand Patent no. 14507)—his first patent. and
Timaru on Wednesday, 20 May 1903.
Flights Researchers into Pearse's aeronautical work had located some 55 surviving witnesses by the 1980s. They assigning a principal category to each witness at that time: 20 had seen a flight or more, 9 had seen a plane on a hedge or in the workshop awaiting repairs, 2 had heard the plane in flight but did not see it, 7 had a second hand account of seeing flight, 10 knew of flights and 7 had seen or knew of the flying machine under construction. during Honora Crowley's last teaching year at Upper Waitohi School to September 1903; and before the Big Snow snowstorm from 11 July 1903. Following decades of research to establish dates, 31 March 1903 is noted by historians as the day when Pearse may have achieved some sort of witnessed flight.
1903 March 31: Upper Waitohi School take off, Main Waitohi Road With the help of Pearse's brother Warne, the aeroplane was pushed 800 metres up the
gravel road to the Upper Waitohi School crossroads, where two dozen spectators gathered to watch the fun. During several attempts to get the machine to work, the crowd dwindled to a handful of people. On the final effort Richard signalled to Warne to pull the propeller to start the engine, while boulders placed in front of the wheels, and volunteers, restrained the plane. After a short time the engine picked up speed. The boulders were then released, and the aircraft was given a push by volunteers. The following day, witnesses describe telling other people of the ‘flight’ and being accused of making an April fool's joke, thus, the date of the event was the 31st of March. One group of witnesses were school students, who had this discussion while riding their ponies to school. In a letter to Geoff Rodliffe, Casey described the flying machine as having a tricycle undercarriage supporting a wing about 5–6 feet (about 1.5–1.8 metres) above ground and provided an accurate drawing showing the points of takeoff and landing. The flight had to have occurred before Miss Crowley left the district in September 1903. in June 1904. If Casey's observations could be verified, this would be the first controlled flight in the world by a powered aeroplane. were considered by researchers to be amongst the most credible. Born 2 December 1895, he was 8 years old when his older brother Ramsay, age 13 years, took him on another cycle excursion, this time with a number of youths to help Pearse prove his flying machine. Gibson recalled that Pearse had transported his flying machine with a dray and couple of horses from his shed to a terrace field above the Opihi River. On the first run, the flying machine headed down the hill and into a clump of gorse. After the boys had pulled the machine out and up the top to the dray, they and Pearse inspected the ground for half an hour in preparation for another run. The boys then headed Pearse and his flying machine on toward the cliff but after about they were left behind as the flying machine gathered speed by its own thrust. As the flying machine went over the cliff and into the air, the boys watched it turn and fly up the river up to gradually going downwards. They ran diagonally across the paddock to find a wet Pearse scrambling up the riverbank. Gibson also dates the flight as occurring shortly after his brother Ramsey turned 14 in 1903. After his birthday, Ramsey immediately moved away from Waitohi to work. Ramsey never returned to Waitohi and died in 1908. and recalled that he had been involved in a fight as a result of claiming that he had seen a New Zealander fly before the Wright Brothers. Arthur Tozer, who was about 17 years old at the time, recalled an event similar enough to be the same; that whilst driving a horse-drawn carriage through the Opihi riverbed he saw Pearse fly overhead but thought he had flown on to land on the terrace. Multiple independent hearsay accounts unrelated to Gibson's flight were made by several sources. Because of the multiple witness and hearsay accounts, it is considered hard to doubt that Pearse at some time made an attempt to fly off the Opihi River terrace. He recalled that he was about 16 and a half years old when he saw one of Pearse's flights. Martin and his father had finished chaff cutting a stack of sheaves on Dick Connell's farm about 2:00 pm. From Upper Waitohi's main road he could see an odd contraption in Pearse's paddock. Pearse had pushed his bamboo plane out of his shed and after altering the steering, started the engine and taxied for about . The plane then rose up into the air about 10 to 15 feet (3.0–4.6 metres) above ground, flew for about and crashed into a big gorse fence. "He could not go any higher because he had no more Power the engine was all out and the under carriage and wheels caught in the gorse fence." Martin took off on his bicycle and rode on after his father's chaff cutting plant. Amos Martin stated that, "The time Pearse flew was on May 2nd 1903 at between half past two in the afternoon and four o'clock." In a letter to Geoff Rodliffe dated 5 September 1976, Clifford Crawford, Daisy's brother, said Daisy was certain the event occurred on Tuesday, 31 March 1903. He recalled his teacher at Fairview, Mrs. Christian Ritchie, telling the children that Pearse had flown. Writing to Joseph Coll on 25 May 1967, Frank Biggs said, "Now regarding the flight, I can remember it pretty clearly it would be late April or early May. Spud digging time. I think Mr. Martin as he witnessed the flight would be correct with his statement." Biggs thought the year to be between 1902 and 1904.
1903 Sisters, Annie Fraser (later Mrs. Casey) and Margaret Fraser (later Mrs. Esler), recalled that they were on a hill filling sacks of potatoes dug by David Stumbles, when they heard Pearse's flying machine in the distance. They piled up potatoes and threatened that if Pearse flew in their direction they would pelt him with spuds. The
Otago Witness, 1 December 1909, also observed that "Mr. Pearse has always been of an inventive turn of mind, as a visit to his workshop will show. Just lately the
Scientific American printed an idea of his for an improved sparking plug for either high or low tension." Following many searches, researchers had doubts that this article existed, until it came to light during a search of
Auckland Libraries’ bound volumes in 1999. R W Pearse's "The Handy Man's Spark Plug" was published in the 4 September 1909 issue of
Scientific American, and again in Alexander Russell Bond's ''Handy Man's Workshop and Laboratory'', a Scientific American Series publication, in 1910. Pearse's handy man's spark plug, having a wire within a central tube, utilised the pressure of the engine's compression stroke to operate a valve, to vibrate the connected terminal wire into contact the central tube's terminal, to produce multiple sparks. Pearse's work was not clearly reported at the time; no contemporary newspaper accounts appear to exist of his earliest efforts. Pearse's own statements, interpreted though modern day lenses, have bamboozled many researchers, writers and critics. For many years such led the few who knew of his feats to accept 1904 as the date of flying. Unconcerned about posterity and in remote New Zealand, he received no public credit for his work during his lifetime. Pearse patented his design, but his innovations—such as ailerons and the lightweight air-cooled engine—did not succeed in influencing others.
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 equipment 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 resembled an
autogyro or
helicopter, but involved a tilting propeller/rotor and monoplane wings, which, along with the tail, could fold to allow storage in a conventional garage. He intended the vehicle for driving on the road (like a car) as well for flying. In 1951, aged 73 years, he was admitted to
Sunnyside Hospital, Christchurch, diagnosed as suffering from arteriosclerotic psychosis, a common ailment among the elderly. He died there two years later. Researchers believe that many of his papers were destroyed at that time. ==Claims==