National Stearman Fly-In - Day 2

Not-so-common aircraft run in David Pitcairn's blood. The aeronautical engineer for Piasecki Aircraft Corp. arrived Tuesday (Sept. 2, 2008) for his first visit to the National Stearman Fly-In at Galesburg, IL, Municipal Airport. He made the 900-mile flight from Philadelphia, PA, in a 1941 Stearman trainer he's owned for just seven weeks. Among Piasecki's current projects is the experimental X-49 compound helicopter. David's uncle, Harold F. Pitcairn, developed the autogyro and founded Pitcairn Aviation, which became Eastern Airlines.

Photo: Robert Harrison, National Stearman Fly-In