in 1932 Capt. Lewis Yancey piloted a Pitcairn Autogiro, christened Miss Champion for the spark plug company, from Miami to Havana at the start of a Yucatan archeological expedition.

exploring the Mayan ruins of the Temple of the Soldiers (Chicen-Itza, Yucatán) in February 1932

The year before, he flew it all over America

Champion Spark Plugs bought it to advertise the spark plug company, like a flying billboard, across 21 states, flying 6500 miles, visiting 38 cities with the 1931 Ford National Air Tour

During January 1932, having flown south to avoid the northern winters, Captain Yancey took “Miss Champion” from Miami to Havana, Cuba, where it arrived amidst fanfare and the usual press interest. From there, he flew onward to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula where he used the unique slow flight characteristics of the autogyro to participate in an archaeological exploration of the Mayan pyramids and ruins.

 It proved very effective in this role, spanning many miles of jungle and finding sites that would have been missed by ground search teams. It was a dream opportunity for the Champion Spark Plug Company, which garnered wide attention from its sponsorship of the archaeological research and came away with some absolutely stunning publicity photos.

After the Yucatan expedition, it was retired

It's one of 2 PCA-2 Pitcairn's that survive today in museums

https://issuu.com/eaahq/docs/avt_072422_1_

https://fly.historicwings.com/2012/09/miss-champion/

https://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/lay.htm

Yancey had earned fame on a South America circumnavigation publicity tour of "Pilot Radio" in 1930, when Pilot Radio Company of Brooklyn sent their experimental aircraft radio plane, a “flying laboratory,” on a “good will flight” through Latin America, primarily to publicize their products.

Their subsequent marathon journey around the perimeter of most of the South American continent would be filled with challenges for the radio equipment, the plane, and, most of all, for the men. Traversing oceans, mountains, desert, and jungles, they would set new records for long-distance air-to-ground communications, broadcast to the people of Buenos Aires from the air, meet with U.S. ambassadors, heads of state, and indigenous Amazon natives; they would be briefly imprisoned, search for a lost flier, and visit exotic and unique places. 

Along with Yancey, was Zeh Bouck, who visited the White House in 1930 and met with President Hoover, and used this expedition to represent the Hoover administration, acting as an unofficial U.S. ambassador to South and Central American nations.

He was one of the first radio columnists, writing for the New York Sun by 1922, and a newsmaker himself. He wrote hundreds of articles for magazines ranging from Boys’ Life to Radio News to Cosmopolitan.

They staked their lives on a plane that developed mechanical problems and could not land on water on a route with few landing areas. How they survived the journey and the true story of what happened during the flight are told for the first time staring on page 95 of https://www.antiquewireless.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-AWA-Review-Vol-33_compressed.pdf

It was the first successful aircraft flight to Bermuda from the United States, and in April, 1930. The plane was a Stinson SM-1FS "Detroiter", Pilot Radio. It ended up crashed and left there.

Why is the flight significant to Bermuda?

The twenties and thirties had great competition for records to be broken in every venue (flagpole sitting for example). One record that had been pursued but failed with cost of lives was the first Great American Journey, a dream of flight to Bermuda from the North American mainland. 

It was long before the capabilities of sending a radio beacon beam to an aircraft to utilize safe navigation. The Bermuda Trade Development Board earlier offered a 25 thousand dollar prize for the first flight to Bermuda. No airport existed in Bermuda, thus a float plane would be necessary.

http://www.hangar9aeroworks.com/BermudaStinson.html

http://www.oldqslcards.com/UNUSUAL_PLACE.pdf