Popular Culture
Film and the stage have commemorated Dick Pearse's remarkable achievements over the years. Three plays centred on Pearse: The Pain and the Passion, by Sherry Ede, Too High the Sun by Stephen Bain and France Hervé, and Pearse, by John Leask, which was performed during the Dick Pearse Century of Flight 1903–2003 celebrations in Timaru. In the 1970s, New Zealand's TV One produced a television movie about Pearse and his first flight. The film focused on Pearse's reclusive manner and his small town's perception of his eccentric activities.
Forgotten Silver, a 1995 mockumentary by filmmakers Costa Botes and Peter Jackson, purports to uncover a long-lost segment of motion picture film which, with digital enhancement of a newspaper seen in one shot, "proves" that Pearse successfully flew in March 1903, predating the Wrights' achievement by several months.
In 2006, New Zealand composer Ross Devereux made Pearse the subject of a two-act rock opera, entitled The Planemaker — A Richard Pearse Story.
A memorial to Pearse's attempts at powered flight stands near Pleasant Point in South Canterbury.
The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland displays a replica of Pearse's aircraft. For the centenary of Pearse's alleged flight, a replica motor was also made. The two, combined successfully, became airborne, albeit very briefly. Visitors to the museum can also see Pearse's last flying machine and the scant remains of his first aircraft.
Read more about this topic: Richard Pearse
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