Remarks: I-PITT Preserved at Volandia Aviation Museum Milano Malpensa Italy - The Pitts Special is one of the most famous and most successful aerobatic aircraft of all time, still used in competitions over 65 years from its first flight. The Pitts S1 was designed in 1943-44 by Curtis Pitts (1916-2005), who built with his friend Phil Quigley. It was a diminutive biplane with welded steel tube frame, wooden swept wings, fixed landing gear and an engine of only 65 HP. Flown by Pitts himself on 28 August 1945 and soon fitted with a 90 HP engine, the S1 flew its first competitions in 1947 with Betty Skelton, who won three US women aerobatics championships in it in 1948-50. In 1955 there existed only five S1.
