[teruakohatu]

> That almost sounds to me like saying that the Wright brothers "made a few simple flights".

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

[jhgb]

Not sure what improvement Pearse made over, say, Ader.

[teruakohatu]

Pearse archived semi-controlled flight 300 cm above the ground verses Ader's uncontrolled ground effect flight 20cm above the ground.

[jhgb]

I have no idea what is "a semi-controlled flight". Is it like "semi-riding a bike"?