The Story of Bamboo Dick.

The Story of Bamboo Dick is well known amongst New Zealand readers but in Australia not so well known so it is worth repeating. Richard Pearse (aka Bamboo Dick or Mad Pearse) was a recluse New Zealand farmer who engaged in the traditional Colonial pursuit of giving it a go.
Richard was born in Waitohi Flat, Temuka on the South Island of New Zealand on the 3rd of December 1877. His father Digory was from Cornwall, England, and his Mother Sarah from Ireland. The Pearse's were from the strata of society known as 'Gentleman Farmers' were all very musical and had their own orchestra in which Richard played the Cello.
Bamboo Dick's forte at school was engineering, and when he left school he wanted to study Engineering at Cambridge College but his family could not afford it. When he turned 21 Richard was given a 100 acre farm called Trewarlet that was to be his home for the next thirteen years.
The overriding passion for Richard was engineering and inventing. He designed and built his own lathe and forge and set about inventing. One of his first inventions was a bicycle made of bamboo that had geared steering, and pedal action that worked vertically with back pedaling brakes and self inflating tyres. By the time he built his bicycle Richard Pearse was considered an oddity and more than a little mad, and had acquired the name 'Bamboo Dick' because of his use of bamboo to build all sorts of contraptions.
It is uncertain when Pearse became obsessed by flying but there is evidence that he had started work on the problems of powered flight in about 1899. He soon came up against the problem all would be inventors of flying machines had, the lack of a suitable engine. In typical Colonial style Richard built one. He was helped in this by Timaru engineer Cecil Wood who had built the first engine to be built in New Zealand.
The engine ran for the first time in 1902. The stories goes that he frightened the local cattle and one farmer thought that war had come to New Zealand. This did not make the local farmers happy and reinforced the general opinion that Bamboo Dick was in fact quite mad. Silencers were not on Dick's list of inventions.
The engine produced 25 hp for a weight of 57 kg. That was outstanding for its day. Certainly powerful and light enough to power and aircraft into the air under its own power and sustain flight.
Now that he had an engine Pearse needed an airplane. It was of course constructed largely of a bamboo frame and canvas covering. The neighbours grew accustomed to seeing 'The Beast' driven around the paddocks of Trewarlet guided by some sort of system controlled by reigns. The 'reigns' are likely to have been the control cables.
About the end of March (Circumstantial evidence suggests the 31st) Bamboo Dick took his machine to the crossroads on the main Waitohi road next to his farm and after many attempts started the engine.
The Beast' with Dick on board lumbered down the road to

become airborne under it's own power before lurching to the left. It climbed slowly for a while before crashing into a gorse bush on Pearse's farm. The estimates of the distance covered vary from 100 to 400 metres. There is no proof of date on this 'flight' and the medical records of the trip to Hospital after the crash that could have pin pointed the date were lost in a fire. One things does seem certain is that the general facts are true and this occurred about 8 months before the Wright Brothers flew at Kittyhawk. Richard Pearse does not seem to have made any efforts to record his flights. He doesn't seem to have been that interested. This could account for his exploits being more folklore than factual. That does not mean however that they are not true, just scantily documented.
This is a list of supposed witnessed flights from Wikapedia. They may be true or may be Folklore. Collaborating evidence is scarce.
1 March 1903 - First powered flight. Estimated distance around 350 yards in a straight line, barely controlled.
March ? 1903 - A distance of only about 150 yards.
2 May 1903 - Distance unknown: the aircraft ended up in a gorse hedge 15 ft (4.6 m) off the ground.
11 May 1903 - Pearse took off along the side of the Opihi River, turned left to fly over the 30' tall river-bank, then turned right to fly parallel to the middle of the river. After flying nearly 1,000 yards, his engine began to overheat and lost power, thus forcing a landing in the almost dry riverbed. One of the locals, Arthur Tozer, claimed to have been startled by Pearse flying over his head.
The date 1st of March as the first flight is in conflict with the account of Richard's sister who said she told a school friend the next day and her friend thought it was an April Fool's day joke. That would make the date of the first flight 31st of March 1903.
There is an interesting video that seems to capture the general feel of the story. It is an hour long so it is not a 'quick' video There is an eye witness account by Richard Pearse's sisters, by a friends Witness account 2.Eye witness account 3.
Many features of Richard Pearse's flying machine were far ahead of the Wright Brothers. He built a tractor monoplane with wheels instead of skids and it had ailerons instead of wing warping. He had a far superior engine and 'The Beast' took off under it's own power. One of the things often forgotten about the Wright Flier is that it could sustain flight once it was in the air, but could not take off by itself.
Continued

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