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1930 Pitcairn PA-7S Sport Mailwing
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Description
In 1925, the Post Office wanted to contract air mail flight operations to private companies instead of flying the mail itself. Among the dozens of individuals and companies vying to fly the mail was Harold F. Pitcairn, the son of a wealthy Pittsburgh industrialist who learned to fly at the Curtiss Flying School in 1914.
Pitcairn’s first design for flying the mail was the PA-2 Mailwing, which he entered the 1926 National Air Races to market the plane.…
In 1925, the Post Office wanted to contract air mail flight operations to private companies instead of flying the mail itself. Among the dozens of individuals and companies vying to fly the mail was Harold F. Pitcairn, the son of a wealthy Pittsburgh industrialist who learned to fly at the Curtiss Flying School in 1914.
Pitcairn’s first design for flying the mail was the PA-2 Mailwing, which he entered the 1926 National Air Races to market the plane. Ambitiously, he entered the same plane in a speed race and an efficiency race. This was unusual since a speed race required big powerful engines while the efficiency race measured who could use the least amount of fuel over a designated course. Nobody believed Pitcairn could be competitive in both races. The secret was Pitcairn and Larson designed a new method of mounting an engine on an airplane. In all airplanes, the engine is bolted onto the airplane’s frame and then hoses and wires connect the engine to the fuel tank, the throttle control, and more. The bolts and brackets were redesigned so only four were necessary to secure the engine to the airplane. The clamps connecting the hoses and wires to the engine were changed so they could be clipped on with no additional tools like screwdrivers or wrenches. The result was Pitcairn’s mechanics could remove one engine and install a new one in less than 45 minutes.
With his new engine mounting system, Pitcairn was able to use a 160 horsepower C-6 engine for the speed race and a 90 horsepower OX-5. Pitcairn’s pilot Jim Ray, flew the PA-2 to first place in the speed race and second in the efficiency race. The more important victory was Pitcairn proved to airline operators that when an engine needed major work, flights could take-off as scheduled. Simply change the engine and keep flying.
The next goal was to take the lessons of the PA-2 and create an airmail plane. As an investor in National Air Transport (NAT), Pitcairn was able to get Ray access to every plane NAT flew. None met Pitcairn’s ideal plane of a single-seat plane able to carry 250 pounds of mail 500 miles at 100mph. Larsen recently completed the PA-4, a larger PA-2 designed to carry a pilot and two passengers. By changing the front cockpit into a storage compartment (just as Lipsner did in 1918 to the Curtiss Jenny), Pitcairn quickly had a plane capable of carrying 300 pounds of mail. Since the planes had the quick change engine mount, the designers could easily test different engines to find the right mixture of speed, range, and reliability.
Appearances at air shows and air races throughout 1927 demonstrated the PA-5 qualities to other mail contractors. When operators asked Pitcairn about selling planes to them, he told them the price tag was $12,000, more than twice the price of earlier planes. Pitcairn charged so much because he planned to shut down production once the airmail route was open. He thought the high price would scare away customers. Instead, companies like Colonial Air Transport, Texas Air Transport, and National Air Transport all put down deposits. Wealthy individuals asked the mail compartment to be converted back into passenger seating. NAT executives almost immediately began asking if Pitcairn could make the PA-5 larger. If he could, they offered to buy ten more of the larger plane that didn’t even exist.
The PA-7 is very similar to the PA-5 with the major difference being the engine. This PA-7 carried coal instead of mail. It was purchased by the Horizon Coal Company in Pennsylvania. Horizon Coal delivered promotional bags of coal throughout New England as a promotional campaign. The aircraft eventually found its way into the hands of Stephen Pitcairn, son of company founder Harold in 1979. It then underwent an extensive restoration before returning to the air in 1983.
Year:
1930
Creator:
Pitcairn Aircraft Company
Location Created:
Willow Grove, PA
Donated By:
The Estate of Stephen Pitcairn