"Another in a Series of Nixon Galloway's Watercolors...Number 13"

Love the yellow wings...

When most aircraft being built in the mid-twenties looked more similar to the WWI trainers that were used as barnstormers all around the country. One entrepreneur enthusiast decided to employ a designer to build a new kind of aircraft.

In 1925, Agnew Larsen began designing a series of biplanes that culminated in the beauty of Mr. Pitcairn's 1927 PA-5 Mailwing. It was used extensively on airmail routes all around the country. It was powered by a Wright Whirlwind J-5 engine rated at 220hp, the PA-5 cruised at 110 mph with a range of an unheard of range of 600 miles.

The Mailwing built of chrome-moly steel, with fabric covered spruce wings was a sight that surely influenced other designers in the coming years. Nixon's interpretation of the Pacific Air Transport PA-5 illustrated the beauty of the Larsen design.

Apparently, besides the aircraft hanging in the Air and Space Museum, there are a few privately owned beauties out there flying.


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