The REAL History of Flight

[JasonCH]

Sorry to break this one on you American folks, but it was a New Zealander, Richard Pearse that was the first man to fly a powered aircraft.

He flew on 31 March 2003, a full 8 months before the Wright brothers flew at Kittyhawk.  :o

I think it only fair that Microsoft include his aircraft, and give him the recognition he deserves in FS2004.

For further reading:
http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/pearse.html

[Craig.]

is that 2003 BC then

[ozzy72]

Jason the reason he was 'officially' discounted was that he couldn't do controlled landings, they were sort of crashes. I know of this story, and have a number of Kiwi friends who agree on this one. Whether you like it or not, the Wright Brothers got the recognition of the world, and the history books. There is also allegedly a Texan who flew in 1901. Face it, we can argue about this all day until we're blue in the face and it won't make an ounce of difference.

Ozzy

[Iroquois]

Some historians argue that the Silver Dart was the first to fly. It took off from a frozen lake in 1903 within days of the Wrigh Brothers flight, at least that's according to something I saw on the Discovery Channel.

[Tequila Sunrise]

there are also claims by a German and a Scott, both within months of the Wrights

[Rifleman]

The Silver Dart was the first canadian plane to fly, but as for the claims from down under

Sorry to break this one on you American folks, but it was a New Zealander, Richard Pearse that was the first man to fly a powered aircraft.
He flew on 31 March 2003 ( I think you mean 100 yrs earlier), a full 8 months before the Wright brothers flew at Kittyhawk.

.....what of Gustav Whitehead.....we have already gone over this one before.......
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/whitehead.html
http://www.deepsky.com/~firstflight/Pages/gpage4.html