I am a long time fan of the Pitts Special and I read Budd Davisson's book about once a year. Between 1945 and 1959 only nine Pitts were built- Number One, Betty Skelton's Little Stinker, Caro Bayley's Black Magic, five were built by Dean Case, and Jim Meeks' Mr. Muscles. These were all built the sketches that Curtis had done over the years. The first plans-built Pitts was built by Pat Ledford and the N-number was N8L. Does this airplane still exist?



Chappie

Well, here is the most updated reg number info from the FAA. Here is a link that gives you the info on the present owner.
FAA Reg Number for N8L

N8L is still alive and kicking.

She was for sale in Trade A Plane a couple months ago. The ad disappeared pretty quick, so I assume it was sold fast or the owner changed their mind.

Thanks fellas. Great news. I just started wondering what happened to some of the early Pitts Specials after dusting off Budd Davisson's book. I'll use that FAA website to look up Caro Bayley's Pitts and the Case-built aircraft.

I'm as Corvette owner/fan and in the Corvette world there is a Registry for all types of special Vettes- ZR-1s, C3s, 40th Anniversary, etc. Are there any clubs, websites, or registries for Pitts Specials?



Chappie

im down here at sean tucker's school for a week. first day im here there is a guy buzzing around the box in an s1t. we get to talking and he mentions he owns another pitts and an rv-4. turns out he owns N8L. i almost fell over. great guy and the plane is in the right hands.

btw, anyone and everyone needs to come down here to fly with these folks. its beyond awesome.

Porter, we are all jealous that you are out there right now. Please keep us Pitts wannabe's posted about your experience!

sat in N8L today. it is TINY. but pretty

so far ive flown with ken erickson for three days, 6 flights total. we've done alot. loops, rolls, spins, flat spins, inverted spins, entire 2007 sportsman sequence, hammerheads, double hammerheads, hesitation rolls, and rolling circles. the instruction is absolutely top notch and everyone is thoroughly nice and really really genuinly excited to be here teaching and learning. anyone can and should come down here for this course. the spin training alone is worth the trip. by the end of it you will be comfortable in just about any situation you can imagine...as long as youve got the altitude.

its not the cheapest thing in the world however, given the type of airplane you will be flying, the experience of the instructors, and the quality of the training, it is an absolute bargain. they could be charging twice what they do (which i have seen people do...almost) and it would still be a no brainer.

still have three more days to go though we are looking at rain tomorrow. ill keep yall posted!

cp

Sounds like you are having a blast out there. What are your feelings on landing the Pitts? Is it all its hyped up to be? I am hoping to get some S2B time down here in the next few weeks.

my first two days were spent in the front seat of the S2C. landings were a non event really, just keep it straight and youve got nothing to worry about. as budd davisson says, itll keep on doing whatever you tell it to do until you tell it to do something different.

after those first few days ive moved into the backseat of the S2B. ive had a little more difficulty in finding the runway from the back. its kind of funny but they say from the back you can almost see too much. still though, keep it straight and you wont have any trouble. to qualify all this i should add that the winds have either been light or steady at 20 kts straight down the runway. the one steady crosswind we had was about 20-30 degrees across the runway at 20ish kts. the control surfaces on the pitts are so big that a crosswind doesnt demand that much input...as long as they are correct. i am not here for a pitts checkout so we havent spent anytime working on pattern work or t/o landing practice at all. even so, after 8 flights and the 8 subsequent landings i am feeling pretty good. i would not attempt this solo though until after some dedicated practice. its not that its hard or scary but its just a little different and i like being safe.

torque rolls today and outside loops. oooooouch.

hey porter how about some pictures

ill try to figure out how to do that. can do a lomcevak...cant post pictures. i did upload some to my profile if you want to take a gander. i honestly havent taken that many.

lomcevaks today, outside loop again, and i played around with a spiraling tower. pull to vertical, left roll and then feed in left rudder. plane rolls around and over, stopping it wings level and then putting it into a flat spin to come back down. alot of work but alot of fun.

'Special' request to Pitts fanatics and/or owners....

Another one of my little illustration projects, this time the little Specials... has anyone got Spec drawings they can share? I'm looking for accurate 3-view/general arrangement drawings of the S-1 and S-2 (everything I've seen looks like cr@p).

Thanks in advance...

Another requset if you don't mind. I am putting togeather a Jim Leroy Pitts model and was wondering if there isa silver square on the bottom of the airplane or not?

PM me so we dont destroy this forum.

Thanks,
Airshow4444

I think there are 3-views of the S-1S on the Steen Aero Lab website.


Chappie