Article by Heather Salazar, Curator – Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum
Photos by Ed Patton (unless otherwise noted)
Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum – Horsham, PA
On September 29, 2012, approximately 140 people gathered inside the museum to welcome home a special piece of local history – one of the two surviving Harold F. Pitcairn Mailwings. The Mailwing returned to its roots after it was donated to the museum by the Pitcairn family.
The legacy of Pitcairn dates back to the mid-1910s when Harold F. Pitcairn established an airstrip on the family estate in Bryn Athyn, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. By 1924, construction began for a hanger, factory building, and clubhouse for the Aero Club of Pennsylvania on the property. Later that year, Pitcairn Field opened its doors for business and thus began a long history of aviation in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Pitcairn’s aircraft production began in 1925 with the Fleetwing PA-1. Built for passenger service, this aircraft could hold four passengers and cost approximately $4,500, an equivalent to $60,000 in 2012 dollars.
In 1926, as traffic increased at Pitcairn’s successful Bryn Athyn airstrip, he bought a section of farmland along Route 611 in Hallowell/Willow Grove to expand his operations and manufacture the Mailwing. The U.S. government awarded Pitcairn Aviation the first government contract to carry overnight mail between New York and Atlanta. The first Mailwing, the PA-5, built in 1927 had 22 cubic feet of cargo space for mail and cost $9,850 to produce. After several versions of the Mailwing, Pitcairn’s PA-8, built in 1931, carried a much larger load than its predecessors. Carrying 1,000 pounds of mail in a cargo space of 55 cubic feet, the aircraft cost $12,500. This enabled Pitcairn to transport over twice the amount of mail than his initial Mailwing carried. Pitcairn manufactured all of these aircrafts on the land that eventually became the Willow Grove Naval Air Station.
In 1931, Pitcairn Aviation built the PA-8 Mailwing that is currently on public display at the museum. Shortly after being certified air-worthy in 1931, it was issued the identification mark assignment (#10751) and sold to Eastern Air Transport. In 1934, North American Aviation bought this Mailwing and replaced its lower wings due to a structural failure. Becker-Forner Flying Service then bought the aircraft in 1935 where it remained until 1945 when it was sold to B.T. Hammond. Between 1945 and 1982, the Mailwing had multiple owners until Norton Aero Ltd purchased it in 1983.
This Mailwing then went through an engine overhaul and the beginning stages of restoration. It finally returned to its roots in 1992 when Harold Pitcairn’s son, Stephen, purchased the aircraft and relocated it to his hangers in Robbinsville, NJ with the intention of bringing it back to life – which he did! On June 9, 1998, after a complete restoration, Stephen Pitcairn flew the aircraft for the first time in almost 50 years. Mike Posey, now President of Posey Brothers Inc. (www.poseybrothers.com) completed the restoration. Mike continued to fly this Mailwing until August 2012, when the Pitcairn family decided to retire it.
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