Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Kiwi Flight Before the Wright Brothers?

Posted by michael on from the stealing-the-glory dept.

houseofmore writes "The Toronto Star is is reporting that New Zealander Richard Pearse may have very well made several flights beginning almost nine months before the Wright Brothers ever got off the ground. It also notes that "Mad Pearse's" machine was in some ways more advanced than the first Wright Flyer."

3 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. did the wright borthers yell by crazyprogrammer · · Score: 0, Troll

    first landing!!! after their 12 second flight?

    --
    "the fax machine is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached to it." - Grandpa Simpson
  2. Anglo-saxon ethnocentrism? by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 2, Troll
    Is it the well-known anglo-saxon ethnocentrism that prevents them from looking elsewhere, say like France, where Clément Ader built working, powered aircraft as early as 1890?

    The french word for "airplane", Avion, was coined by Clément Ader in 1894. Many years before the Wright brothers would turn a propeller.

  3. Re:Revisionist History by jtdubs · · Score: 1, Troll

    What is wrong with all of you idiots.

    Oh, this other guy flew a glider off a big hill and crashed into some bushes, so that means the Wright brothers weren't the first to fly.

    Oh, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite, and that pre-dates the Wright brothers, therefore they weren't the first.

    Oh, and some other guy jumped out of his fucking window and fell 10 feet, and I think he flapped his arms, so that is like flying, so he was first.

    The Wright brothers weren't the first to fly. That's not what they are famous for. They were the first to have sustained, powered, controlled flight.

    Justin Dubs