Curtis Pitts

Curtis Pitts (December 9, 1915 – June 10, 2005) of Stillmore, Georgia, was an American designer of a series of popular aerobatic biplanes, known as the Pitts Special.[1]

Career

Pitts grew up in Americus, Georgia and his first airplane was a Waco F.

He designed and built the S-1, specifically for aerobatics, in 1945.[2]

He also designed the Pitts Samson, built in 1948 for aerobatic pilot Jess Bristow. The Samson was destroyed in a mid-air collision around 1950.[3]

The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC has called Pitts' 1943 design "revolutionary because of its small size, light weight, short wingspan and extreme agility".[1]

Curtis Pitts died of complications from a heart valve replacement at his home in Homestead, Florida on June 10, 2005.[1][2]

Pitts was inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame in 1991,[4] and the Air Show Hall of Fame in 2002.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Curtis Pitts, 89; Creator of Popular Pitts Special Aerobatic Biplane". Los Angeles Times. 12 June 2005. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  2. ^ a b c "Curtis Pitts". International Council of Air Shows Foundation. Archived from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  3. ^ "Pitts Samson". Archived from the original on 2009-10-21.
  4. ^ "Curtis Pitts". Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2017-06-02. Retrieved October 9, 2018.

External links




This page was last updated at 2019-11-10 08:25 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari