Friday, May 30, 2014

A Pitcairn DK Airplane

Friday, May  30, 2014
             Cloud with rain


A Pitcairn DK Airplane

   At the beginning of the week, I was "fooling around" with Bing's search engine. I was entering ridiculous word combinations to see what I might find. I use Google most of the time because it it the best, as do many other people, but I occasionally use Bing.  I  was using the word "Pitcairn" on Bing, then decided to go to ebay. Lo and behold, under my search for toys, I saw this majestic toy that was made in Japan in the 1930's. The history of the real "Pitcairn" is just as interesting as the toy.

"The Pitcairn PCA-2 was an autogyro developed in the United States in the early 1930s Harold F. Pitcairn's first autogyro design to sell in quantity. It had a conventional design for its day – an airplane-like fuselage with two open cockpits in tandem and an engine mounted tractor-fashion in the nose. The lift by the four-blade main rotor was augmented by stubby low-set monoplane wings that also carried the control surfaces."*

*http://typesofplanes.com/contact



   This most-interesting airplane never succeeded for a number of reasons. There was the timing of the invention and introduction (the 1930's and the Depression). Also, several companies were more interested in developing helicopters at the time, and "stole" Mr. Pitcairn's inventions. It wasn't until   the mid-1960's and finally on July 23, 1977, that the Supreme Court of the United States declared that in fact Mr. Pitcairn was the developer of the and creator of the rotary wing industry. He posthumously was awarded a huge amount of money for damages suffered from the theft of his inventions. Every helicopter that the U.S. government had purchased up to that time had in fact been based on Harold Pitcairn's invention.  I won't tell you the sad story, but you can find the story of Mr. Pitcairn at the link below:










"This can be best described as a project or parts Toy or even a fantasy item. I bought this years ago. It has had extensive work done to it as the photos reflect. the wings are mostly repainted as is the tail elevator and helicopter propeller. to its credit the fuselage looks to be mostly original as do the front propeller, the wheels and the wind up which works. also I believe the rudder is original, but otherwise helicopter propeller is completely remade and there is solder on the tabs underneath the wings. the toy does work and it is fun to watch. the rotor turns as well as the propeller on the front and the wheels. however as the photos reflect the toy has had huge restoration and paint work and the paid t is flaking in spots. to its credit though it is still a very interesting looking Toy. It is the large size 10 inches long with an 11 inch wingspan. it is colorful it has all the correct Pitcairn, CK made in Japan neat lithographed engine detail and separate driver and steering wheel. this neat parts toy, fantasy piece or heavily restored large size Pitcairn CK made in Japan tin wind up toy airplane helicopter toy will still make a great addition to any conversation piece or neat airplane related rin wind up 1930s Japanese made tin or plane collection."*

Description Courtesy of Atomic_Cheeseball


Size: 
Length x Wingspan
10" x 11"    254 mm x 279 mm
Circa 1930's

   Sometimes you find the most interesting toys when you're least expecting them!


Thanks for dropping by,
and have great part of the day or night
wherever you may be,
Stacey
toysearcher@gmail.com

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