Mike Thornbury
Aug 31, 2018 · 1 min read

“The race to get the world’s first plane in the sky was a hard fought battle between The Wright Brothers and a lesser-known gentleman by the name of Samuel Pierpont Langley.”

Not even close, unless the only history that matters is written by Americans, for Americans.

Richard Pearse, a New Zealand farmer was the first.

“Pearse flew and landed a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, nine months before the Wright brothers flew their aircraft”

Not only did he build the plane, but he designed and manufactured the two-cylinder engine that powered it.

Of course you don’t know this because all your textbooks tell you the Wright Brothers did it first…