For the last 87 years, National Aviation Day has been celebrated on Aug. 19 to commemorate Orville Wright’s birthday. Along with his brother Wilbur, Orville invented and flew the first successful powered airplane in 1903.
But local aviation enthusiasts need not travel to Ohio, Wright’s birthplace, to commemorate this special day in flight.
Locally, the Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum is a treasure trove of aviation history.
The Horsham-based museum, which is operated by the nonprofit organization Delaware Valley Historical Aircraft Association, is home to more than 20 aircraft, as well as thousands of artifacts, many celebrating the accomplishments of local aviator Harold F. Pitcairn, who established Willow Grove as the birthplace of rotary-winged flight in the United States prior to his death in 1960.
Pitcairn, of Bryn Athyn, founded the Pitcairn Aircraft Company in 1926, a manufacturer of light utility aircraft. In 1927, he incorporated Pitcairn Aviation in Willow Grove (now Horsham Township). Two years later, he sold most of the airlines to the Curtiss-Keys organization, a business that ultimately evolved into Eastern Airlines.
Around the same time Pitcairn opened an airfield in Horsham Township, which the U.S. Navy acquired in 1942 and eventually became Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove. The now-shuttered air base is located adjacent to the Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum.
The Pitcairn Aircraft Company’s first means of airborne transportation was built at that field in 1925. This five-passenger commercial biplane was the Pitcairn PA-1 Fleetwing. Another one of the company’s commercial biplanes, the Pitcairn PA-2 Sesqui-Wing, finished first in both the efficiency and high-speed classes of the 1926 National Air Races.
In 1928, Pitcairn purchased the U.S. rights to Juan de la Cierva’s autogiro invention and started building his own locally. One of his first successful designs was the PCA-2 Autogiro. An autogiro is a rotary-wing aircraft that employs a propeller for forward motion and a freely rotating rotor for lift.
Prior to that, in January 1927, the U.S. Postal Service awarded him a contract air mail route between New York City and Atlanta. Pitcairn was also awarded a contract air mail route between Atlanta and Miami in November of that year. The Pitcairn Aircraft Company constructed a biplane – the PA-5 Mailwing – for these mail routes. The Mailwing remained in use for mail delivery until 1931.
Since 2012, the Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum has housed a sleek, black and yellow PA-8 Mailwing, a later iteration of Pitcairn’s PA-5. The rare aircraft is one of only six manufactured at Pitcairn Field in 1931. The aircraft was designed with a 55-cubic-foot cargo space to haul up to 1,000 pounds of overnight mail. The aircraft were powered by a Wright J-6 engine and capable of reaching a top speed of 145 mph with a 600-mile range.
In addition to hauling mail, the PA-8 Mailwing was known as a transport for Hollywood actor Steve McQueen in the late 1970s.
Rick Pitcairn, the grandson of Harold F. Pitcairn and the executor of his uncle Steve Pitcairn’s estate, donated the PA-8 Mailwing to the Wings of Freedom Museum in 2012 to fulfill his uncle’s wishes.
Museum guests can see the PA-8 Mailwing – and over 20 other aircraft – on static display at the museum, which is located on heavily traveled Route 611 in Horsham Township.
About Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum
The Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum is operated by the Delaware Valley Historical Aircraft Association, a nonprofit organization focused on preserving the aviation history of the greater Delaware Valley since 1972. The museum, which opened in 2004, houses aircraft spanning various eras in the history of aviation: World War I through World War II, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, The Cold War Era, The Gulf War, The Balkan War, The Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan. The museum is open Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesdays-Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The museum is available for group day trips, scout troop visits, and birthday parties. Guests may use the pavilion for lunch or birthday celebrations. For admission pricing and other information, please visit https://wingsoffreedommuseum.org/ or call 215-672-2277. Memberships, volunteers and donations are always welcome as well.
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