Future of "Miss Pittsburgh" airplane up in the air

For decades, the "Miss Pittsburgh" airplane hung over the security check-in at the old landslide terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport. 

But when the new terminal opened, the historic plane did not make the move, angering aviation enthusiasts. Here's a look at the history of the "Miss Pittsburgh" airplane and whether it will find a new home. 

History behind "Miss Pittsburgh" airplane

A century ago, the airplane made history for the first mail flight from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, Ohio, and back. But today, "Miss Pittsburgh" now has no place to touch down and hangs in the entryway of the abandoned landslide terminal without a plan for a future home.

"What's alarming on that is that airplane has a huge Pittsburgh history," Chris Henry of the EAA Aviation Museum in Wisconsin. "Not just the name 'Miss Pittsburgh,' but that really is an airplane that paved the way for all airline travel in the area."

After making that historic flight in 1927, the airplane spawned a fleet of mail carriers and carved the way for passenger travel out of Bettis Field, Pittsburgh's first commercial airport. In retirement, she was restored and given a place of honor, becoming a familiar sight to travelers leaving Pittsburgh and a welcome one to those returning.

"That airplane always welcomed you home," Henry said. 

Henry, a former Pittsburgher, is the manager of the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It displays more than 200 aircraft and is home to the largest airshow in the world. He calls the plane a Smithsonian-level historic artifact but says he and other aviation enthusiasts have made several inquiries about its future and have gotten no answers.

"We've just been bounced around where nobody wants to take control and say, 'Yep, it's our asset. This is what we're doing with the airplane,'" Henry said.

Bob Kerlick, the director of public affairs for the Allegheny County Airport Authority, said, "We recognize the historical impact and significance of 'Miss Pittsburgh' and what that meant for the aviation industry in western Pennsylvania."

What comes next?

Despite that recognition of its worth, the stakeholders have no firm plans for its future. Although Pittsburgh International Airport has hosted the plane for decades, leaders made a decision not to move it into the new terminal. Kerlik says it just wasn't a good fit.

"In the new terminal, there's not really a space that is really conducive in the same way it was here, and that's why we're working with the Heinz History Center to determine a new home for it," he said. 

The plane is actually the property of the Heinz History Center, which faces a similar conundrum: how and where to display an aircraft that is 23 feet long with a 31-foot wingspan. Indoor space is limited, and it's the same at the county airport. Still, the history center spokesperson Brady Smith believes a solution will be found.

"There will be a solution. I think working with the airport, we'll find a solution and a location for 'Miss Pittsburgh,'" Smith said.

If none is found in the short term, Henry said his museum is willing to take "Miss Pittsburgh" in. But he believes she should be displayed locally and thinks her future here has been something of an afterthought.

"I'm a little bit at a loss of words for how this got to this point where they don't know what to do with the airplane," Henry said.