Harold Pitcairn and assistants preparing for the flight of his "Windmill autogiro" to Washington D.C., May 14, 1929.

Credit: Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann

On December 18, 1928, Harold Pitcairn assembled and flew a Cierva Autogiro from his Pitcairn Field, just a few minutes from his family estate in Bryn Athyn, PA. After this, the first flight of a rotary-wing autogiro in the United States, Pitcairn immediately began to redesign and manufacture autogiros, and to promote their sales through well-publicized stunts. In May, 1939, Pitcairn flew his Windmill autogiro to Washington D.C.