Occupation Aviation Designer Name Harold Pitcairn | Parents John Pitcairn, Jr. | |
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Born June 20, 1897 Hawthorne, Iowa Children Joel, John, Charis, Stephen, Robert, Judith, Bruce, Edward Died April 24, 1960, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Grandparents Agnes McEwan, John Pitcairn, Sr. Uncles Robert Pitcairn, Hugh Pitcairn Aunts Janet Pitcairn, Catharine Branyan, Helen Rush, Margaret Starkey Similar People John Pitcairn - Jr, Juan de la Cierva, Raymond Pitcairn, Eddie Rickenbacker, Robert Pitcairn | ||
Gyro Flies To Capital! (1928)
Harold Frederick Pitcairn (June 20, 1897 – April 24, 1960) was an American aviation inventor and pioneer. He played a key role in the development of the autogyro and founded the Autogiro Company of America. He patented a number of innovations relating to rotary wing aircraft.
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Biography
He was born on June 20, 1897 in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.
Pitcairn's start in aviation was as an apprentice at Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company He attended the Curtiss Flying School in Newport News in 1916.
Pitcairn founded Pitcairn Aviation (later to become Eastern Airlines), and Pitcairn Aircraft Company which manufactured efficient airmail biplanes, and autogyros. He bought the right to license Juan de la Ciervas patents for the United States for $300,000 in 1929.
He was awarded the Collier Trophy in 1930 for development of the autogyro. USA President Hoover awarded the trophy on the lawn of the White House in 1931, where a Pitcairn PCA-2 landed as the first aircraft ever.
On April 24, 1960 he committed suicide at his home in Philadelphia shortly after a party celebrating his brother's birthday.
Legacy
More sympathetic sources and the police report said the death was accidental and was caused by a faulty Savage Model 1907 0.32 automatic pistol. Pitcairn was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1995. In 1977, 17 years after his death, the Supreme Court of the United States awarded Pitcairn $32 million from the US government for rotorcraft control surfaces patents used by military rotorcraft.