The Pitts Special is a biplane aerobatic aircraft designed by Curtis Pitts, which has amassed more competition victories than any other aircraft since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated competition in the 1960s and 1970s, and even in the early 21st century it remains an effective aircraft in lower-class competition.
Development and History
Few aircraft have had the same impact on their time as the Pitts Special, and today the aircraft in production is quite close to the original model that first flew in 1944. Many of the aircraft built by Pitts had a skunk design on the fuselage and were affectionately nicknamed “stinker”! The prototype of the two-seater S-2B was nicknamed “big stinker”, the S1-11B “super stinker”, and the Model 12 “macho stinker”.
Curtis Pitts died at the age of 89, and at the time of his death, he was still working on the prototype of the Pitts Special Model 14, a high-powered two-seater equipped with a 400 hp Russian radial engine found on the Sukhoi 31.
Today[When?], the American company Aviat holds the certificates and rights to the Pitts Special but also those of the Eagle II, an aircraft quite similar to the Pitts Special.
MSFS Aviat Pitts Special S-2S Liveries