Plaisir de voler le célèbre Pitts S2b dans un superbe ciel de fevrier... (avion de voltige et d'acrobatie des années 1970/1980, toujours performant et aimé des passionnés, 260 chevaux sous les capots) .... The aircraft was popularized by Betty Skelton, Caro Bayley, and other air show performers, which led to the offering of plans in 1962.[7]

Pitts produced limited numbers of aircraft during the 1940s and 1950s. The Pitts Special became the standard by which all other aerobatic aircraft were judged. After a number of homebuilt aircraft were produced from rough hand-drawn plans produced by Pitts, more professionally drawn plans went on sale in 1962. While many homebuilt aircraft were built in the 1960s, earning the S1 a reputation as an excellent aerobatic aircraft, Pitts worked on the design of a two-seat aerobatic trainer version, the S-2, which first flew in 1967 and gained its type certificate in 1971. Factory-built aircraft produced by the Aerotek company at Afton, Wyoming were joined in production by the single-seat S-1S in 1973.[9][10]
In 1972, the US Aerobatic Team won the World Championships flying only Pitts biplanes.[2]
In 1977 Curtis Pitts sold his interests in the Pitts S1 & S2 to Doyle Child.[7] Child later sold the rights in 1981 to Frank Christensen, who continued production at the Afton plant under the guise of Christen Industries.[10] The rights for homebuilt versions of the Pitts were sold in 1994 to Steen Aero Lab,[11] with the Afton factory and production rights being transferred to Aviat.
Curtis Pitts died in 2005 at age 89. At the time of his death, he was working with Steen on the prototype of the new Pitts Model 14, a brand new, two-seat biplane designed for unlimited aerobatics powered by the 400 horsepower Vedeneyev M14P radial engine