Not sure what improvement Pearse made over, say, Ader.
Re:Turing Oversold?
by teruakohatu on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @09:12PM
(#28546692)
Pearse archived semi-controlled flight 300 cm above the ground verses Ader's uncontrolled ground effect flight 20cm above the ground.
Richard Pearse gets written off in the same way to elevate the Wright brothers flying accomplishments.
Pearse was just perusing powered flight as hobby in rural New Zealand, didn't bother informing the press and didn't bother even telling the government until WWII, 40 years later, about his flights and engineering designs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse