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Curtis Pitts (December 9, 1915 – June 10, 2005) of Stillmore, Georgia, was an American designer of a series of popular
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.
He also designed the
Budd Davisson's website
- Source for Pitts information.
Pitts Specials Formation Aeroabtic Team
- A father and son Pitts team. They fly formation aerobatics, as well as inverted formations. 1915 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American engineers {{US-engineer-stub
aerobatic
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glid ...
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
s, known as the Pitts Special.
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.
He also designed the Pitts Samson
The Pitts Samson was an aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts in 1948.
Design and development
The Samson was designed for aerobatic pilot Jess Bristow. It was a larger variant of the earlier Pitts Special, built using war surplus parts. ...
, built in 1948 for aerobatic pilot Jess Bristow. The Samson was destroyed in a mid-air collision around 1950.
The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States.
Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...
in Washington, DC has called Pitts' 1943 design "revolutionary because of its small size, light weight, short wingspan and extreme agility".
Curtis Pitts died of complications from a heart valve replacement at his home in Homestead, Florida on June 10, 2005.
Pitts was inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Air Show Hall of Fame in 2002.
In popular culture
In the 1980 aviation drama film '' Cloud Dancer'' Curtis Pitts appears in a brief scene, played by Woodrow Chambliss.See also
*1943 in aviation
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943:
Events
* Watanabe Iron Works transfers its aircraft manufacturing business to a new subsidiary, the Kyushu Airplane Company Ltd.
January
* January 5 – In support of the American occupation ...
References
External links
Budd Davisson's website
- Source for Pitts information.
Pitts Specials Formation Aeroabtic Team
- A father and son Pitts team. They fly formation aerobatics, as well as inverted formations. 1915 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American engineers {{US-engineer-stub