When did man achieve the first power flight?

Answer 1

Much controversy exists around the many competing claims of early aviators as to who and when the first power flight was achieved. The world's first powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft is credited to the Wright brothers in Ohio, USA, on 17 December 1903. There are claims, however, that the world's first such flight was undertaken by twenty-five year old New Zealander, Richard Pearse, on 31 March 1902 (some sources quote 1903).

Pearse was a creative and unassuming inventor who essentially built his flying machine out of farm parts. It incorporated tricycle type landing gear and ailerons, or movable flaps on the wings to control its rolling and banking movements. Pearse's initial flight was an estimated distance of 300m and limited to a straight line, ending prematurely when the flying machine landed in a hedge some 4 metres off the ground. As Pearse did not realise the historical value of his flight, he did not arrange for any photographs to be taken of his flight, and evidence that it occurred has only been provided through the reports of eye witnesses.

The claim is disputed mostly along the argument that, though his flight was powered, it does not truly come under the category of "controlled and sustained", unlike the Wright brothers. Regardless of semantics, however, his design was superior and Pearse is regarded as one of the true pioneers of flight.

Answer 2

Kittyhawk, North Carolina, 1903.