He cofounded the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain and was its secretary for thirty years.
[1] Brearey served as the Honorary Secretary society from its founding[2] until his death thirty years later.
[3] Brearey made a "wave action" aeroplane model driven by a rubber band.
It had rigid spars (elsewhere called "bowsprits") which beat up and down, trailing undulating wings of fabric behind them, whose action propelled the model forward with "limited success.
"[4] He filed for patents on this craft in Britain in 1879[5] and later in the U.S.[6][7] Brearey published more than 15 articles about aeronautical subjects from 1866 to 1883.