Early this afternoon, weather permitting, a spindly monoplane of steel tubing and fabric will take to the air at Mandeville, near Gore, to mark a centenary.
The monoplane is the replica of one Invercargill engineer Bert Pither claimed he flew along Oreti Beach 100 years ago - on July 5, 1910.
The problem for aviation historian Errol Martyn, of Christchurch, is the lack of independent verification of Mr Pither's flight.
Mr Martyn is six months into writing a book intended to set the record straight about the dawn of New Zealand aviation.
He has 40 years of research behind him and is well used to accounts of early aviation endeavours being vague and inaccurate. He stops short, however, of saying lies were told.
"I think 'lies' is taking it a bit too far. There may have been one or two outright liars but the worst, I think, most could be accused of is puffery or exaggeration."
So, what is to be made of the bid by Dunedin man John Harley Gill for a place in aviation history?
Mr Gill first came to public attention in November 1909 when an Evening Star reporter visited him at his home at 53 Grove St, Musselburgh.
Using a model, Mr Gill demonstrated to the reporter his theories on flight.
"His ideas are from the flight of a bird. The front of the machine is like the breast of an albatross . . .
"It is so constructed that with a slight push the air strikes the front and carries it up on its own length.
"With a run of a couple of feet the model soared to the top of the overmantel . . ."
One of the patented features of the model was an air chamber to be filled with hot air from the exhaust of the motor.
"The machine is thus supplied with a cushion in case of sudden descent."
The aeroplane was to be 58ft long, powered by a 30-horsepower engine and capable of carrying six people and supplies.
In 1910, newspapers were full of stories about overseas aviators - one flying for 20 minutes at 1000ft, another carrying Hungarian nobles on short, paid flights and others being killed or injured in falls.
And, if the sheer joy of flying was not enough incentive for these magnificent men (and women), London's Daily Mail offered a 10,000 prize for a "circular flight over a distance of 1000 miles" and another 10,000 prize was offered in Australia.
So, within six months of telling the Star of his plans, Mr Gill, had the backing of a syndicate of local people and his plane was under construction.
It was built at Schlaadt Brothers foundry and engineering works, at 30 Cumberland St, under the supervision of Mr Gill and a Mr Pearson - a former employee of Samuel Cody who was Britain's answer to the Wright brothers.
In May 1910 Mr Gill's plane was displayed at the Otago A and P Society's winter show in Crawford St and it created "great interest".
The sign above read: "Flying Machine Built In New Zealand by A Dunedin Boy (Admission: Adults 1/- Children 6d)".
The design included cloth "blinds" that could be deployed to prevent a "sudden drop", if the engine stopped, or a "capsize . . . acting in fact as lateral supports like those on the Samoan canoe".
Capable of 30 miles per hour, the machine was steered by a triangular rudder "in the bows".
A search of Otago Daily Times and Otago Witness files has failed to reveal what happened in the weeks after the show.
However, on July 1, 1910, south Taranaki's Hawera and Normanby Star ran an account of Mr Gill's history-making first flight, on "vacant ground" at Andersons Bay.
"The machine travelled a distance of 900 yards, and in its flight rose gracefully to a height of about 160 feet.
"It was at the time carrying Mr Gill and his assistant, Pearson.
"After covering that distance, however, Pearson, who was steering, tried to turn, and a portion of the structure proved too weak and collapsed and the flight came to an abrupt termination."
The report suggested the flight occurred about June 17, 1910.
Mr Martyn: "The strange thing is that there is no eyewitness account that I've found - not that I've checked every single paper in Dunedin every day - but there doesn't appear to be any contemporary account on the day or the day after, and yet this supposedly took place at Andersons Bay.
"It seems strange that such a claim would be made for a flight that supposedly took place in front of dozens, if not several hundred people, and should go almost totally unreported."
Adding to the mystery, newspaper reports two weeks later that Mr Pither had flown on Oreti Beach failed to draw any challenge from Dunedin interests who would, Mr Martyn believes, have been eager to argue over who was first.
Mr Pither's claim that he flew has been strengthened by the efforts of Colin Smith and his Croydon Aircraft Company, which built the replica of Mr Pither's plane. It flew a short distance for the first time in 2004.
However, Mr Smith is not the least bit confident that if he was to make a replica of Mr Gill's plane it would have any chance of flying.
"He had a 35hp engine, he had a four-bladed propeller, like a windmill fan - which is the most inefficient way of trying to generate thrust on an aeroplane - and then claimed to have two people on board.
"... it would never, ever have developed the amount of thrust to get two people plus the aeroplane off the ground. Never."
Certainly, two attempts during which Mr Gill and his plane were not seen to leave the ground are quite well documented.
The Otago Witness's cycling and motoring correspondent "Demon" reported, in August 1910, on the first trial, at Pelichet Bay, now Logan Park.
"The machine was conveyed in the morning on two lorries to the reclaimed ground opposite the cement works, and a crowd speedily gathered to await events."
Dozens of children pushed the plane through the mud until they were exhausted but to no avail, and the trial was abandoned because of a lack of power due to spark plug problems.
Two weeks later, a new propeller was tried and this time, according to "Demon", six men were needed to hold it back.
"On the machine being released it bounded forward but was immediately stopped by Mr Gill."
The engine was too powerful for its mounting.
"It is fortunate he [Mr Gill] noticed the steel tubes bending when giving way, for in a few seconds more the propeller would have torn the engine clean out of the machine and a nasty accident would have been inevitable.
"It is a pity the engine-bed was not strong enough, as there appeared a reasonable probability of a creditable flight being made."
And, there the reports of Dunedin's experiment with air travel seems to end.
Mr Gill advertised his "new safety aeroplane" for sale in June 1911 - it having "fulfilled expectations" - and it is believed the plane was bought by unknown English aviators and shipped to Manchester.
One contrary report suggests Mr Gill's plane was seen many years later lying derelict and engineless in a South Dunedin timberyard - giving rise to the suggestion he built more than one.
In the draft pages of his book, Mr Martyn describes the plane's design as "hopelessly unrealistic".
But his account is not yet set in stone, and Dunedin people still have the chance to provide him with the evidence to show Mr Gill did indeed fly over Andersons Bay 100 years ago.
Aviation flights of fancy
One school of thought maintains the first powered flight in the world was achieved by South Canterbury's Richard Pearse on March 31, 1903, nine months before the successful flight by Americans Orville and Wilbur Wright.
However, aviation writer Errol Martyn, who is preparing a new book on early aviation in New Zealand, says of claims about Richard Pearse:
"We can prove quite conclusively that Pearse never flew prior to the Wrights or anywhere near 1902-03.
"In fact, he never really flew at all because he even said himself, in letters later on, he never flew.
"He did make some tentative hops in 1909 and possibly in 1910.
"So he was a trier, not a flier."
TIMELINE
• March 31, 1903: The date supporters of Richard Pearse claim he flew for several hundred metres.
• December 17, 1903: Orville Wright, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, flew 120ft in 12sec in a heavier-than-air plane.
• July 25, 1909: Louis Blériot flew the 36.6km from Les Baraques, near Calais, across the English Channel to Dover in 37 minutes.
• About June 17, 1910: John Harley Gill supposedly flew at Andersons Bay, Dunedin.
• July 5, 1910: Herbert Pither claimed to have flown on Oreti (then Riverton) Beach.
• August 6, 1910: Unsuccessful attempt by Gill.
• August 21, 1910: Unsuccessful attempt by Gill.
• February, 1911: Vivian Walsh, at Auckland, in his biplane Manurewa, was officially credited with the first successful powered flight in New Zealand.
