Pitcairn Aircraft Company
| Aircraft Manufacturer | |
| Successor | Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company, Company of America (ACA, Pitcairn-Larsen Autogiro Company, AGA Aviation Corporation, G and A Aviation. |
| Founded | 1927 |
| Defunct | 1948 |
| Headquarters | Willow Grove, Pennsylvania |
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Key people
|
Harold Frederick Pitcairn |
| Products | Commercial aircraft |
| Subsidiaries | Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company |
 Pitcairn PA-36 jump take-off
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The Pitcairn Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light utility aircraft. An early proponent of the autogyro, the company, later known as the Autogiro Company of America among other names, would remain in business until 1948.
Harold Frederick Pitcairn, the youngest son of PPG Industries founder, John Pitcairn, Jr., founded Pitcairn Aircraft Company. The business started with the formation of Pitcairn Flying School and Passenger Service on 2 November 1924 which later became Eastern Airlines.
In 1926, Pitcairn started Pitcairn Aircraft Company initially to build aircraft for his growing airmail service. He purchased a field in Horsham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and built Pitcairn Field no. 2.
The first aircraft, a Pitcairn PA-1 Fleetwing was built at the Bryn Athyn field. In 1927, Pitcairn brought aboard a friend and designer from his apprenticeship days at Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, Agnew E. Larsen. Larsen left the Thomas-Morse Aircraft company to join Pitcairn. In June 1927, the state of the art Wright Whirlwind powered Pitcairn PA-5 Mailwing was introduced for airmail service. The plane proved popular and was bought by thirteen other companies. In 1928, Pitcairn purchased a Cierva C.8W and the American manufacturing rights from Juan de la Cierva for his autogiro designs for $300,000. In 1929, Pitcairn formed a separate patent holding company to build autogiros, the Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company, which was later renamed the Autogiro Company of America. Kellett autogyros competed with, and eventually licensed production rights from Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company for $300,000. As a part of the licensing agreement, Pitcairn used Cierva's copyrighted variant of the name Autogiro (capitalized and spelled with an i) as opposed to the currently more common spelling of autogyro which was initially used to bypass his copyright.
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