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Aerobatics History
Eugène Lefebvre performed what was probably the first aerobatics, consisting of dives and steep bank turns, at the first world air meet at Rheims, France in 1909. In 1913 Adolphe Pégoud flew inverted and then went on to increase his repertoire.
With the development of successful fighter aircraft in the World War 1 aerobatic skills were used in dogfights, mainly to evade enemy aircraft.
In the United States in the 1920’s barnstorming became a popular form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed as they travelled round the country, often in groups as flying circuses. In Europe aerobatic competitions took place, including the World Cup of aerobatics in Paris in June 1934 and as part of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.
A French pilot, François d’Huc Dressler, had published the beginnings of a notation system in 1955. Unfortunately he died before it was finished. The most widely used system is the Aresti system by Colonel Jose Luis de Aresti Aguirre of Spain. This uses symbols to describe about 15,000 aerobatic manoeuvres and gives a degree of difficulty to each.
A brief history of the Pitts Special Biplane
| 1942 | Curtis H Pitts began the design of the Pitts Special in Jacksonville, Florida. His aim was to create an aerobatic aircraft that would defy gravity and be crisp on the controls. | |
| 1944 | The first Pitts Special, powered by a 90 hp Franklin engine flew. | |
| 1946 | The second Pitts Special constructed by Curtis Pitts was the “Little Stinker”. Several of the aircraft that Curtis built had a picture of a skunk on them, hence the name Stinker. The “Little Stinker” gained national and international recognition with pilot Betty Skelton and is the smallest Pitts Special in existence. | |
| By 1962 | The standard engine had been increased to 180 hp | |
| 1966 | A symmetrical airfoil was added to make inverted flight characteristics similar to normal flight characteristics. | |
| 1970 | A manufacturing operation known as Pitts Aerobatics was started in Afton, Wyoming. | |
| 1991 to today | In 1991 Aviat Inc. based in Afton, Wyoming, acquired the Type Certificates and rights to the Pitts Special aeroplane. |
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Photo reproduced with kind permission of EAA Sport Aviation magazine
