HISTORIC FLIGHT RECOGNISED

Press, 26 November 1980, Page 25

HISTORIC FLIGHT RECOGNISED

It took Bert Pither nine months to design, construct, and fly an aircraft in 1909-10; but it has taken Morgan Long more than 20 years to have the feat recognised in aviation’s hail of fame.

Pither was a former Canterbury champion cyclist who made flying history while working as a marine engineer in Invercargill. That particular piece of history’ involved the moustachioed handyman coaxing his meccanolike contraption into the air off Riverton Beach 70 years ago.

Thanks to Mr Long’s research and subsequent crusade, the Pither flight is acknowledged as the first in the world by an all-metal machine.

Morgan Long is a Christchurch businessman with a passion for aviation history. When not occupied in his chosen field of real estate or enjoying a quiet week-end at tranquil Lake Kaniere, he engrosses himself in research-

ing the deeds of those magnificent men in their flying machines — and, in particular, Pither. It is not just that he is related to the remarkable aviator by marriage; his wife, Marie, is a daughter of Len Pither, one of Bert’s four younger brothers. His interest in flying lore dates back to the days when he served in the R.N.Z.A.F. in the Second World War. He became interested in the deeds of pioneer aviators, and took an early interest in Pither because of their link through cycling. Pither pedalled as fast as anyone in the world In his heyday; and while Mr Long was a rider of much more modest talents, he had champions on both sides of his family. But the Pither feat cap-

tured his attention, especially after he unearthed a duplicate engine to the one used in the pioneer’s monoplane. Since that time 22 years ago he has become Pither’s most persistent advocate, and recognition of the 1910 flight’s significance by the world’s leading aeronautical authorities has been reward enough.

Those authorities were the Aviation Council of the United Service and Royal Aero Club, London: the Royal Aeronautical Society, also based in Britain; and the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, in Paris. The most important of these is the council, which is the premier aviation authority on the subject of “firsts” in flight. It carried out a

two-year Investigation of the claims made on behalf of Pither before giving its approval. AU Mr Long sought when he submitted evidence to the overseas bodies was recognition of Pither’s feat as the first sustained, powered, and controlled flight in the world by a machine of all metal construction. That status, however, also automatically makes it the first genuine flight of any kind in New Zealand, pre-dating Vivian Walsh’s effort in an imported Hamilton biplane at Papakura in Februarv, 1911. Claims made on behalf of another aviation pioneer, Richard Pearse, of Temuka, are dismissed by Mr Long. The efforts by the brooding Waitohi Flat

inventor in 1903 — or was it 1904 — were no more than powered hops, he say’s. They were certainly not controlled nor sustained.

Arguments about Pearse have raged for a long time, and still smoulder, even in South Canterbury'. Morgan Long says it all boils down to a matter of definition.

The criterion for a powered. sustained, and controlled flight is that a conventional aircraft should sustain itself freely in a horizontal or upyvard flight path — yvithout loss of airspeed — beyond a point tvhere it could be influenced by any momentum built up before it left the ground. Otheryvise, its performance can be rated only as a powered leap — and

that is what Mr Long says Pearse achieved. (Eye witnesses who saw Pearse’s first tyvo flights at Waitohi Flat recalled that the aircraft climbed slowly, pitched badly, and veered to the left before coming to rest on top of a 12ft hedge. The flight yvas said to have covered 150 yards.) For a flight of true con sequence, Mr Long says, the machine should be kept in satisfactory equilibrium, travel at least a quarter of a mile beyond the point tvhere it could be influenced by any momentum built up before take off, and land safely. Pither was successful in all these aspects when he fletv at Riverton. Mr Long accuses the 1.-’.te George Bolt on placing Pearse on a pedestal. “I think that for a long time people did not want to hear about anyone else but Pearse.” Now is the time to put Pither on that pedestal , » ■