langerl

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Hi All,

I've been scouring the web for pictures of Mary Gaffaney's 1972 WAC winning Pitts S1. Its yellow with black trim, registration N6W. I've hit Airliners.com, and all the usual suspects. Only success I've had from extensive Googling is a 3/4 view shot of the aircraft and Mary, found in a Smithsonian Air and Space Museum magazine edition. I'd sure appreciate some help if you have some info... photos, links, refs, anything with pictures.... color or B&W.

Thanks.

langerl

TLH101

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Current registration info here: http://162.58.35.241/acdatabase/NNum...?NNumbertxt=6W
and here: http://www.aircraftone.com/aircraft/...1s_722020c.asp
Maybe able to trace back from there.

goatboy

mary used to have a flight school at the tamiami airport in south west miami back in the early 70's i used to live at a boys home next to the airport. I got to do some part time summer work at the school (washing planes and fiberglass sanding on wheel skirts etc) occasionaly a free ride. got a big kick when they had a huge air race there. (got a line pass) that time there got me hooked on flying. I havnt been to the airport since 74 (its gotten bigger!) dont know what happened to her or the school since. but maybe its still there or you can contact the airport to find out how to contact her(she still alive?) good luck!

langerl

My Feedback: (5)

Thanks for the quick feedback guys. I'll try to follow the leads you provided. BTW, I think I saw that Mary may have passed away recently.... hope I was mistaken[&o]. Seems N6W is now owned by another individual. Hope he hasn't repainted it or has pictures of the old scheme.

Keep the references coming!

Thanks again.
langerl

arp67

My Feedback: (55)

You may find this link of interest:

http://www.toni-clark.com/index_en.htm

Click on "kits" then "Pitts S1-S". There is a color model photo of Mary's Pitts when it was registered as N5J.

Andrew

dan2364

I have a black and white of Mary's Pitt N5J in flight. It is on page 126 Of the book "Go Around" written by Ann Tracy about Mary Gaffaney.
Mary taught me to fly at Browns Airport in 1951.

Dan Rosenson
[email protected]

TFF

http://www.airbum.com/
Email this guy; he is the unofficial Pitts historian.

langerl

My Feedback: (5)

Wow!
This is a real "Blast from the Past"! Thanks all for keeping me in mind. I will try to make contact with the provided sites.... and it's still not too late to complete my build and painting.

Thanks ALL!

langerl

Idigbo

I have these two from somewhere or other!

I like to see any others out there too. Got to be the best Pitts colour scheme.

Ian.

langerl

My Feedback: (5)

Thanks Idigbo!
I've collected a few photos of Mary's S1S, N6W and the one you've posted is about the best I've seen. I've a couple of others, and one artist's rendering (picture) showing N6W with a black, scalloped, leading edge on both top and bottom wings. So far, I've no clue whether this is correct, nor any info on the bottom of the aircraft.

But, I'll keep looking! Thanks again for your help.

My Byron Pitts is all glassed and ready for primer. If I ever get a break from restoring Warbirds, the Pitts is the first model that goes back on the boards.

Thanks to All!
Regards,
langerl

cwilliamrose

N5J and N6W were two different airplanes. Both were at Kendal Flying School when I was getting my PPL (at a different FBO at TMB) and when I worked there in the early 70's. N5J was the airplane Mary flew in competition and N6W was more of a spare airplane, rarely flown, and eventually sold to John Riemer(sp?) in Pompano Beach. N6W had "Charlie Gaffaney" (Mary's husband) painted under the cockpit combing but I never saw him fly it. I spent many hours cleaning and polishing N5J and monitoring practice flights when Mary was actively competing and flying airshows.

I always thought it sad that N6W just sat in the hangar and never flew. It seemed a waste, especially for a kid that wanted nothing more than to fly an S-1S. Of course I offered to blow the dust off of it but she wasn't buying and I was not ready skill-wise for that airplane at that time.

I'm foggy on the details but Mary may have sold N5J before N6W and used N6W for airshow work before it was sold when she retired from flying airshows. The name under the cockpit was likely changed when Mary was flying N6W regularly. Later she acquired another Pitts from Bill Lancaster to resume her airshow flying. Bill's airplane was orange and white and I believe it remained in its original colors while she owned it.

cwilliamrose

Here are two from the 1970 WAC;






This is the link to the gallery. Lots of photos from that contest................