By David Watson, EAA Lifetime 837
If you have ever read the history of the Pitts Special, you already know about Billy Williams’ airplane. Now take a few minutes and read what really happened…
I am David Watson, the youngest son of the late Bill Watson (the first EAA member No. 837). When I was a little kid, no more than five years old, I asked my dad “what kind of airplane was in our backyard shop?” He said, “It’s a Pitts Special, it’s the first homebuilt Pitts Special.” Those words have stuck with me for my entire life, so I have decided to tell the true story of the fourth Pitts Special. Everyone knows the story of the first three Pitts Specials, which were built, (and eventually sold) by Curtis Pitts. Following those three, many followers of the Pitts Special history believe that two airplanes built in the 1950s were the first homebuilt airplanes. One was built from drawings Curtis Pitts sold to a man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, named Billy Williams. The other was built by associates of Curtis Pitts; this airplane was known as Mr. Muscles. The construction of Mr. Muscles most likely started in 1957 or ’58, and most believe it was the fourth Pitts Special to be finished and flown, since it’s documented in Sport Aviation, September 1960. But my dad started building his Pitts airplane before Mr. Muscles was started. Keep reading! It’s worth it, I promise. Pay attention to the dates!
What happened to the Billy Williams airplane? These common accounts of Pitts Special history say that Billy Williams gave up on the project and sold it to Dean Case of Wichita, Kansas, who finished it for his daughter, aerobatic pilot Joyce Case. The airplane was known as Joy’s Toy. But if you read the story of Joy’s Toy in Sport Aviation, May 1961 issue, you’ll see that Joy’s Toy was constructed of new tubing, not someone’s half-finished project.
Who was Billy Williams? Like my dad, Bill Watson, Williams was a Tulsan, he was also an early EAA member, and a good friend of my dad. My dad was a charter member of EAA Chapter 10, and his first copy of The Experimenter from 1954 has our address handwritten on it. I believe how Billy Williams’ name got attached to Pitts Special history is when he flew to Florida with my dad to get the drawings Mr. Pitts agreed to sell him. About 15 years later, when Mr. Pitts recalled early Pitts Special history for use in a documentary film about the 1972 U.S. Aerobatic Team, my dad’s name was forgotten. This mistake was first printed in Tom Poberezny’s two-part article from Sport Aviation, May and June 1973, entitled, “Thank you, Mr. Pitts.” Everybody has echoed this history. It’s like a template.
My dad worked on the airplane from 1954-1955 until about 1960-1961, and he didn’t touch it again. He was a corporate pilot with a family of five, and in the early 1970s he had the great fortune to work for the owner of a small independent oil company who had a thing for antique airplanes. Becoming the custodian of this collection with a dozen or so antiques was like living in a dream for us, and from these years my dad acquired a 1928 Kreider-Reisner KR-31, powered by an OX-5. My dad became well-versed in OX-5, and likely flew more hours behind the same OX-5 than anyone else in history. The Pitts went from being a dusty monument in our backyard garage to a dusty wall-hanger at the airport.
When Mr. Pitts came to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, for the Biplane Expo in 1993, my dad brought the drawings with him. And during their visit, with many aviation notables as witness, Mr. Pitts remembered. These were the first drawings he sold of the Pitts Special. But the history was already written, so what do you do? You can’t un-ring a bell. Pictures were taken of the airplane in our front yard with my oldest brother, and better yet, it was mentioned in EAA Experimenter/Sport Aviation publications back in May 1955, December 1956, July 1958, and oddly enough, in EAA Vintage Airplane from August/September 2014.
It is the second Pitts Special mentioned in an EAA publication after Little Stinker, which was mentioned in 1954.
The airplane was never finished, and it was never sold so it’s still here in Tulsa.
I was told my story here isn’t significant. Well, if the true story of the first homebuilt example of the greatest aerobatic biplane of all time isn’t significant (at least to an airplane guy), then I don’t know what is. And it’s good for us to remember that the whole industry of sport aviation stands on the shoulders of over-ambitious, working-class men like my dad who took a chance and built their own airplane.
My dad chose well.
Thank you for reading this,
David Watson, EAA Lifetime 837