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PITCAIRN PCA-2 AUTOGIRO NC10780
CHEWING GUM
This aircraft is a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogiro,
S/N B-12 (ATC #410), manufactured in April 1931 by Pitcairn
Aircraft, Inc., Willow Grove, PA. It came from the factory
with a Wright J-6 engine (S/N 12528) of 300HP. It had a Hartzell
steel propeller. It was a three-place craft, weighing
3,000 pounds.
NC10780 was sold to Amelia Earhart, New York,
NY on May 22, 1931. This
autogiro is the “older” (by a month) sister ship of NC10781 flown
to Tucson by John M. Miller. The long distance contest between these two
aircraft, in the hands of Miller and Earhart, is summarized at pilot Miller’s
link. More details, and two images of Amelia and NC10780, are here.
The Beech-Nut Packing Company, Canajoharie, NY, sponsored
Earhart’s early flights with NC10780. She was
not a very careful pilot with this aircraft, taking delivery
from the factory with a minimum of check-out flying and practice
landings. Her inexperience shows up later in the damage history
of NC10780.
We find our autogiro landing at Tucson on June 10, 1931
at 10:00AM flown by Amelia carrying one unidentified passenger.
They were inbound from Phoenix, AZ and identified their destination
as "Points east". If you followed and digested the links
above, you'll know this probably wasn't a pleasant flight
for Amelia and her passenger. She had just been edged out
of a transcontinental autogiro record by John Miller.
Among other products, the Beech-Nut company manufactured
Beech-Nut chewing gum, which was supplied in bulk to Earhart
for distribution to the crowds who gathered to witness her
cross country landings. NC10780
was purchased by Beech-Nut on July 11, 1931, and Earhart
continued to fly it for company promotions. It was
painted green, with “BEECH-NUT” painted large
upon its flanks. Below is a model of NC10780 in its display
case at the NASM. You can see nicely the rear pilot cockpit,
and the forward cockpit for two passengers. Photo taken by
your webmaster.
NC10780 suffered at least two accidents while under Earhart’s
command in Beech-Nut livery. The NASM record alludes
to repairs being made at the factory at the time Beech-Nut
bought it. It is not clear if the repairs were the
result of an accident.
The NASM record (see below) is clear that on July 12, 1931
NC10780 crashed at Abilene, KS. It landed in a parking
lot on top of cars. Although she and her mechanic passenger
were uninjured, pilot Earhart received a formal reprimand
for carelessness and poor judgment from the Assistant Secretary
of Commerce for Aviation. The
second accident, on September 12, 1931, occurred at Detroit,
MI. The
rotor blades were damaged beyond repair, and the undercarriage
and spars were damaged. It was repaired with new rotors.
Between 1932 and 1934 ownership passed between two individuals
and their corporate entity, Gyro-Ads., Inc., Howard Beach,
NY (S.S. Pike, President; Frank Saglimbene, Sec.-Treas.). It
suffered an accident at Valley Stream, NY on May 7, 1933
and was repaired. Sometime in 1934 it was sold to Monard
Flyers, Inc., Woodhaven, NY. There is no NASM record
of Monard’s use of the aircraft.
On May 23, 1936, Monard Flyers sold NC10780 to Morton Ingebritsen,
Oslo, Norway. It was exported to Norway in May 1936
under export certificate #E-1923. No further information. Does
anyone know what happened to NC10780?
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The NASM record for Amelia's autogiro is as follows:
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Her aircraft in three-view looked like this:
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UPLOADED: 07/05/06 REVISED: 07/31/08
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