The Pitcairn Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light utility aircraft. An early proponent of the
autogyro, the company, later known as the Autogiro Company of America among other names, remained in business until 1948.
History
Harold Frederick Pitcairn, the youngest son of
PPG Industries
PPG Industries, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 company and global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 70 countries around the globe. By revenue it is ...
founder,
John Pitcairn, Jr.
John Pitcairn Jr. (January 10, 1841 – July 22, 1916) was a Scottish-born American industrialist. With just an elementary school education, Pitcairn rose through the ranks of the Pennsylvania railroad industry, and played a significant role ...
, founded Pitcairn Aircraft Company. The business started with the formation of Pitcairn Flying School and Passenger Service on 2 November 1924, which later became
Eastern Airlines.
In 1926, Pitcairn started Pitcairn Aircraft Company initially to build aircraft for his growing airmail service. He purchased a field in
Horsham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and built Pitcairn Field no. 2.
![Pitcairn Autogiro NASA GPN-2000-001990](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Pitcairn_Autogiro_NASA_GPN-2000-001990.jpg)
The first aircraft, a
Pitcairn PA-1 Fleetwing
The Pitcairn PA-1 Fleetwing (Pitcairn Aviation - One) is the first biplane designed for air racing and commercial airmail service by Pitcairn Aircraft Company
The Pitcairn Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light u ...
, was built at the
Bryn Athyn
Bryn Athyn is a home rule municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It was formerly a borough, and its official name remains "Borough of Bryn Athyn". The population was 1,375 at the 2010 census. It was formed for religious reasons fro ...
field.
In 1927, Pitcairn brought aboard a friend and designer from his apprenticeship days at
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decades ...
,
Agnew E. Larsen
Agnew Emiel Larsen (April 3, 1897 – August 17, 1969) was an American aircraft engineer who designed a series of pioneering airmail aircraft, and engineered progressive improvements to rotary wing aircraft that are in use in most modern hel ...
. Larsen left the
Thomas-Morse Aircraft
The Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, until it was taken over by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in 1929.
History
Founded in 1910 by English immigrants William T. Thomas and his brother Oliver W. T ...
company to join Pitcairn.
In June 1927, the state of the art
Wright Whirlwind powered
Pitcairn PA-5 Mailwing
The Pitcairn Mailwing family was a series of American mail carrier and three-seat sport utility biplane aircraft produced from 1927 to 1931.
Design and development
The Pitcairn Mailwings were developed to carry air mail for the United States P ...
was introduced for airmail service. The plane proved popular and was bought by 13 other companies.
In 1928, Pitcairn purchased a
Cierva C.8W and the American manufacturing rights from
Juan de la Cierva
Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of la Cierva (; 21 September 1895 in Murcia, Spain – 9 December 1936 in Croydon, United Kingdom) was a Spanish civil engineer, pilot and a self taught aeronautical engineer. His most famous accomplish ...
for his autogiro designs for $300,000.
[Charnov, Bruce H]
Cierva, Pitcairn and the Legacy of Rotary-Wing Flight
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...
Accessed 22 November 2011. In 1929, Pitcairn formed a separate patent holding company to build autogiros, the
Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company
The Pitcairn Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light utility aircraft. An early proponent of the autogyro, the company, later known as the Autogiro Company of America among other names, remained in business until 1948. ...
, which was later renamed the Autogiro Company of America. Kellett autogyros competed with, and eventually licensed production rights from, Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company for $300,000. As a part of the licensing agreement, Pitcairn used Cierva's copyrighted variant of the name Autogiro (capitalized and spelled with an i) as opposed to the currently more common spelling of autogyro which was initially used to bypass his copyright.
![Pitcairn1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Pitcairn1.jpg)
In 1929, three prototypes were built, and one was demonstrated in the 1929
Cleveland Air Races
The National Air Races (also known as Pulitzer Trophy Races) are a series of pylon and cross-country races that have taken place in the United States since 1920. The science of aviation, and the speed and reliability of aircraft and engines grew ...
. Following a fire in November 1929, The first PCA-1 was built and tested the same month.
In June 1929,
Clement Keys personally bought all the shares of Pitcairn Aviation (the airline and flying school) for $2.5 million and resold them two weeks later to
North American Aviation
North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...
, which renamed the company Eastern Air Transport, and finally Eastern Airlines. From this point on, Pitcairn focused on autogiros.
In 1931, the company was renamed to the Autogiro Company of America (ACA).
In 1931, ''
The Detroit News
''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the '' Detroit Tribune'' on Februa ...
'' made history when they bought the first
Pitcairn PCA-2
The Pitcairn PCA-2 was an autogyro (designated as "autogiro" by Pitcairn) developed in the United States in the early 1930s.Taylor 1989, p.735 It was Harold F. Pitcairn's first autogyro design to sell in quantity. It had a conventional design fo ...
for use as a news aircraft due to it ability to fly well at low altitude and speed, land and take off from restricted spaces, and semihover for better camera shots. This PCA-2 was the ancestor of today's news helicopters. Also in 1931, pilot
James G. Ray
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
landed an autogiro on the south lawn of the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
.
Harold F. Pitcairn, the pilot, and three other company members of the Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company were present to receive the
Collier Trophy
The Robert J. Collier Trophy is an annual aviation award administered by the U.S. National Aeronautic Association (NAA), presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to im ...
for their development of the autogyro.
In 1932, autogyro inventor Cierva was greeted by U.S. President
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
, who predicted in the future we would have large transport autogyros.
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...
borrowed a company Pitcairn PCA-2 model. She arranged for the National Aeronautics Association to monitor the flight. Members of the New York press and
Movietone News were invited to watch. On her second flight, she remained airborne for about three hours and set a woman's autogiro altitude record of 18,415 feet. Later, she toured the country for
Beech-Nut Packing Company in a bright green autogiro. On the return trip, she crash landed in
Abilene, Texas
Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statis ...
, earning her a reprimand from the
United States Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bu ...
. A second crash at the Michigan state fair, caused an unintended injury of her husband's ankle as he ran to the scene.
In 1933, the parent company and conventional aircraft manufacturing arm, Pitcairn Aircraft Company, merged with the autogiro arm, following the end of Mailwing production, and contract air-mail flights.
On December 9, 1936, Juan de la Cierva died in a crash of a
KLM
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...
DC-2.
[ The Cierva Autogiro Company, Ltd., largely financed by the Scottish marine engineering firm of G & J Weir, Ltd., was then engaged in development of the "autodynamic" rotor, unworkable features of which were abandoned to produce the C.40 jump-takeoff autogiro for the British ]Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
. Pitcairn's engineering staff used a different and more practical means of providing jump-takeoff performance, which was applied to the PA-36, PA-39, and XO-60 autogiros. The C.40 was the last autogiro produced by the British company, the activities of which were suspended with the outbreak of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Pitcairn was kept apprised of the activities of the Cierva Autogiro Company, which proposed the Gyrodyne
A gyrodyne is a type of VTOL aircraft with a helicopter rotor-like system that is driven by its engine for takeoff and landing only, and includes one or more conventional propeller (aircraft), propeller or jet engines to provide forward thrust d ...
to the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
in 1938 in response to a requirement for a ship-borne rotorcraft capable of hovering. Pitcairn's staff was similarly engaged in the design of such an aircraft, modifying the AC-35 Autogiro for the purpose. The G & J Weir Ltd. aircraft department was engaged in the development of the Weir W-5
A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
helicopter, which was similar in configuration to that of the Focke-Achgelis Fa 61
The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 is often considered the first practical, functional helicopter, first flown in 1936. It was also known as the Fa 61, as Focke began a new company—Focke-Achgelis—in 1937.
Design and development
Professor Henrich Fock ...
. Though holding a construction license for the Cierva C.19 and C.30 Autogiros, which did not include access to any theoretical information or patented technology, Focke-Wulf
Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...
engaged in a systematic study of publicly available documents, as well as original research to develop the Fa 61. The British government attempted, both through its own offices and those of G & J Weir, Ltd., to license Fa 61 technology, but were presented with onerous terms, which were rejected. Though urged to abandon the autogiro and instead pursue helicopter development, Pitcairn considered the former aircraft to offer more utility to the private flyer and largely ignored the latter. This decision was to consign Pitcairn's rotary-wing activities to the sidelines as new companies appeared that took advantage of his pioneering work with the autogiro that was readily applied to helicopter development.
In 1938, the company was renamed to the Pitcairn-Larsen Autogiro Company, and again in 1940 to the AGA Aviation Corporation.
In 1942, Pitcairn's airfield and facilities at Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, were condemned by the US government for which he received $480,000, forming the Naval Air Station - Willow Grove. AGA Aviation was now renamed to G and A Aviation, and became part of Goodyear Tire and Rubber. Under threat by the US government of receiving no payment for his proprietary rotary-wing technology, Pitcairn reduced royalties for 19 in-house patents and 145 licensed patents to subcontractors of the government during wartime. After 1946, other manufacturers continued to produce helicopters under contracts with the US government which the latter assumed all indemnification for payment of royalties. The Pitcairn Autogiro Company was dissolved in 1948. Pitcairn continued to pursue litigation for use of the patents by other firms in 1951 that stretched into a 1977 Supreme Court case awarding Pitcairn's estate $32 million.[
]
Military operations
The US Navy evaluated a PCA-2 in 1931, designated as Pitcairn OP
The Pitcairn OP-1 (manufacturer designation: PCA-2) was the first rotary-wing aircraft to be seriously evaluated by any of the world's major air forces. The machine was not a helicopter, nor an airplane, but an autogyro. Pitcairn's model was neve ...
on the aircraft carrier , to become the first rotary-wing craft to land on a ship at sea. Piloted by then Lieutenant Melville Pride, the autogiro landed four times and taxied about the deck without the aid of a landing crew. On one of these take off and landings, Captain Kenneth Whiting
Kenneth Whiting (July 22, 1881 – April 24, 1943) was a United States Navy officer who was a pioneer in submarines and is best known for his lengthy career as a pioneering naval aviator. During World War I, he commanded the first America ...
was a passenger.
In 1940, six Pitcairn PA-18
The Pitcairn PA-18 was an autogyro produced in the United States in the early 1930s.Taylor 1989, p.735
History
In 1931, Pitcairn had produced a lightweight autogyro suitable for the private pilots as the PAA-1.''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of ...
autogyros were converted to Pitcairn PA-39
The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four is ...
models for convoy escorts for the Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
.
Aircraft
References
Bibliography
*Brooks, Peter W. ''Cierva Autogiros: the Development of Rotary-Wing Flight''. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988.
*Gablehouse, Charles. ''Helicopters and Autogiros; A History of Rotating-wing and V/STOL Aviation''. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1969.
*Lightbody, Andy and Poyer, Joe. ''The Illustrated History of Helicopters''. Lincolnwood, Ill.: Publications International, 1990.
*''Rotorcraft Flying Handbook''. U.S. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2000.
External links
Smithsonian Museum collections relating to Pitcairn
"Will Autogiro Banish Present Plane?", March 1931, pg 28
{{Pitcairn aircraft
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States
Autogyros
Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United States