Richard pearse memorial tree

New Zealand aviation pioneer (1877–1953)

For other people with similar names, see Richard Pearce (disambiguation).

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 afterward describe observing Pearse flying and landing a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, nine months before the Wright brothers flew.^{[3]: 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".^[4]

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