Aotearoa’s Awesome Aviators
Recommended for year 4 to 8
Unknown Photographer. Unknown. [Signed copy print of Jean Batten], PHO-2018-2.13. Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
Sir Keith and Lady Park, 14-0210. Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
Richard Pearse : portrait, 02-2072. Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
Did you know that some of the most outstanding Pilots in history have been New Zealanders? In this workshop students will learn about three of the greatest of all time: Richard Pearse, Jean Batten, and Sir Keith Park. These Kiwis show off the best of New Zealand, they were creative, adventurous, and ingenious!
Introduction – Amazing Aviators
You will need:
– Device
– Streaming capabilities
Introduce the topic of the history of flight and ask the class what they know about the first flying machines and the first aviators in history. Below are some questions to help facilitate your discussion:
History
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How did people get around the world before they could fly?
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Who are some famous New Zealand pilots? What did they do?
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What do you think were some of the challenges that early pilots faced?
Technology
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What did some of the early airplanes look like? What were they made of?
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What jobs are planes used for these days?
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What are some differences between planes today and planes from the past?
Check out this video of people’s first attempts at making planes. It certainly shows how daring you had to be to fly in an early aeroplane!
Have students view the quick chatterpix videos about Jean Batten, Sir Keith Park, and Richard Pearse.
Encourage students to have a look at some of their objects from MOTAT’s Collections Online and notice the planes the aviators flew, the clothes they wore, and some of the awards they received for their achievements.
Then, have the students use the links provided below the videos to do some research into the feats of one of these pilots.
Challenge them to create a document that they can use to teach others about their chosen pilot. It could be a slides presentation, poster, video, etc.
Richard Pearse
Check out the MOTAT collection of Richard Pearse items here
Richard Pearse Transcript
Hi! Im Richard Pearse and I was one of the world’s first aviators. I was born and raised in Timuka, near Timaru. My family was always very creative and we even had our very own family orchestra in which I played the cello. When I finished school, I really wanted to go to Canterbury University, but my family couldn’t afford it so I went into farming. My true passion though was making things, I always loved making things even when I was at school. Every night I worked in the back of my shed on inventions like improvements to things like bikes and farming equipment, but in 1899 I started working on my very own flying machine. Three years later in 1902, I decided to give it a go. So, do some research to find out more about my plane, how my flight went, and what I did afterwards in the following links.
Jean Batten
Check out the MOTAT collection of Jean Batten items here
Jean Batten Transcript
Hi everyone, I’m Jean Batten. I was born in 1909 in Rotorua, and I moved up to Auckland when I was 6 years old. When I was a kid, I used to watch the sea planes of the local flying school and I dreamed of the day when I would get to go and fly them. Planes were a brand new invention when I was a kid so they did not go far! When I turned 20 my mum took me to Australia to fly with a great pilot called Charles Kingford Smith. In those days there were a few aviators around who were flying long distances but I wanted to fly further and faster than all of them. I moved to England with my Mum and I took on the world! So, go to the bottom of this google slide show to see and research my amazing feats from the 1930s.
Sir Keith Park
Check out the MOTAT collection of Sir Keith Park items here
Keith Park Transcript
Attention! Sir Keith Park here, war hero, aeroplane extraordinaire. I was born in Thames in 1892 and joined up with the army in 1914. I then fought at Gallipoli during World War One but the Brits taught me to fly in 1917 and I shot down quite a few planes before World war one ended in 1918. By the time World War 2 rolled around they had me in charge of all the planes defending London from German attack. Check out the Battle of Britain with the following links and check out some stuff from my life that lives at MOTAT today. Tally Ho chaps!
Additional Links:
You can use the links below to learn more about these famous New Zealanders:
Richard Pearse:
Jean Batten
Article about Batten on Britannica Kids
Long article, higher reading level
NZhistory article about Batten
Sir Keith Park
Ducksters Battle of Britain Article
Curriculum Links
Social Sciences
Level 2:
Understand how people make significant contributions to New Zealand’s society.
Level 4:
Understand how exploration and innovation create opportunities and challenges for people, places, and environments.