{"id":31774317,"date":"2026-11-08T11:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T10:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/pitts-special-curtis-pitts-aerobatic-biplane-history-s-1s-s-2\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T11:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T10:14:29","slug":"pitts-special-curtis-pitts-aerobatic-biplane-history-s-1s-s-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/pitts-special-curtis-pitts-aerobatic-biplane-history-s-1s-s-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitts Special: The Little Biplane That Ruled World Aerobatics"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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It was a tiny single-seat biplane, at the time the smallest aerobatic aircraft in existence, built two years earlier by a designer named Curtis Pitts. She painted it red and white, put a skunk on it and called it <em>Little Stinker<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The next year she won the International Feminine Aerobatic Championship in it. The year after that she won it again. A design dynasty had begun. For the next three decades the Pitts Special would be the aircraft every serious aerobatic pilot either flew or had to beat.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Here is how one man&rsquo;s backyard biplane came to rule competition aerobatics, and why, eighty years later, it is still the aircraft many pilots learn to fly upside down in.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border:1px solid #e2e7ee;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Pitts Special (S-1 single-seat, S-2 two-seat) aerobatic biplane<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Designer:<\/strong> Curtis Pitts (1916-2005)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>First flight:<\/strong> Mid-1940s (1944 per Wikipedia; Smithsonian dates the S-1 to 1945)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Oldest survivor:<\/strong> S-1C <em>Little Stinker<\/em> (1946), Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Key variant:<\/strong> S-1S (1960): four ailerons, symmetrical aerofoils, usually 180 hp Lycoming<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Big win:<\/strong> US team won the 1970 and 1972 world team titles flying Pitts almost exclusively<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Two-seater:<\/strong> S-2 first flew 1967, type certificate 1971<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Built today:<\/strong> Aviat Aircraft, Afton, Wyoming<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Small, light and twitchy on purpose<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Curtis Pitts began designing his single-seat aerobatic biplane during the Second World War, and the prototype flew in the mid-1940s; Wikipedia gives September 1944, the Smithsonian dates the S-1 to 1945. His idea, as the National Air and Space Museum describes it, was an aerobatic aircraft that would defy gravity and be crisp on the controls.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The big pre-war aerobatic biplanes were heavy machines with large radial engines. Pitts went the other way. He built around the new, smaller and lighter horizontally opposed engines, kept the wingspan short, and swept the upper wing slightly, which helped with access and balance and, the Smithsonian notes, made snap rolls snap more sharply.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The result was revolutionary for exactly the reasons the museum lists: small size, light weight, short wingspan and extreme agility. The prototype was wrecked a few years after its first flight, but the second aircraft, the S-1C of 1946, survives. It is <em>Little Stinker<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/pitts-s-1c-little-stinker-n22e-udvar-hazy.jpg\" alt=\"Red and white Pitts S-1C Little Stinker N22E hanging in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Betty Skelton&rsquo;s Pitts S-1C <em>Little Stinker<\/em>, N22E, the oldest surviving Pitts Special, hanging in the Smithsonian&rsquo;s Udvar-Hazy Center. Photo: Sanjay Acharya \/ CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Betty Skelton and the Stinker<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Skelton made the Pitts famous. She flew it at the Cleveland Air Races and across the American air show circuit, took it to displays in London and Belfast, and mounted a second ball-bank indicator upside down on the panel so she could keep her flying coordinated while inverted.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;I didn\u2019t just sit in that little airplane, I wore it. If I sneezed, it sneezed with me.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Betty Skelton<\/strong> &mdash; Aerobatic champion, on <em>Little Stinker<\/em> (quoted by the National Air and Space Museum)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>She had a sense of humour about it, too. According to the Smithsonian, she fitted a bright red, non-functioning button to the instrument panel labelled &ldquo;Spin, crash and burn&rdquo;. Because the registration NX86401 was so long and the Pitts so small, she asked the authorities for a shorter one and got N22E, which the aircraft still wears. In <em>Little Stinker<\/em> she also became the first woman to perform an inverted ribbon cut, flying inverted close enough to the ground to cut a ribbon stretched out by her friends Steve Wittman and Bill Brennan. Few aircraft of the day could have done it so precisely.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>She and fellow performer Caro Bayley both won women&rsquo;s championship titles in Pitts Specials in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Skelton sold <em>Little Stinker<\/em> in 1951, later bought it back with her husband and donated it to the Smithsonian. Restored by volunteers between 1996 and 2001, it now hangs in the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_R3TjDyhsm4\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">The National Aviation Hall of Fame&rsquo;s biography of Betty Skelton, the champion who made the Pitts Special famous.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The S-1S: built to win<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>In 1960, Pitts realised the S-1C needed more to compete internationally. The answer was the S-1S, which the Smithsonian credits with three key changes: four ailerons instead of two to boost the roll rate, symmetrical aerofoils so the aircraft flies the same way upright or inverted, and generally a 180 hp Lycoming engine.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Pitts also opened the design to homebuilders. More professional plans went on sale in 1962, and hundreds of Pitts Specials were built in garages and hangars around the world. Pitts built the first S-1S examples for a who&rsquo;s who of American aerobatics, including Bob Herendeen, Mary Gaffaney, Gene Soucy and Tom Poberezny.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/pitts-s-1s-special-cavanaugh-flight-museum.jpg\" alt=\"Single-seat Pitts S-1S Special in red and white sunburst paint suspended from the hangar roof at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum, Texas\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A single-seat Pitts S-1S, the four-aileron competition version that won the World Aerobatic Championships for the US team in 1970 and 1972, at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Texas. Photo: Michael Barera \/ CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">World champions, 1972<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Then came the results. The US Aerobatic Teams of 1970 and 1972 won the world team championships flying the S-1S almost exclusively. At the 1972 World Championships, five members of the winning American team flew the S-1S and two flew the new two-seat S-2A, and both individual world champions, Charlie Hillard and Mary Gaffaney, flew S-1S Pitts Specials.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>According to the Smithsonian, between the late 1960s and 1974 almost all US national men&rsquo;s or women&rsquo;s champions flew an S-1S or S-1C. British pilots flew it at the 1972 Worlds, and Canada&rsquo;s team arrived for its first world championship in 1974 equipped with Pitts S-1S and S-2A aircraft.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;The Pitts remains the standard for advanced aerobatic training. Curtis Pitts' classic design is a recognized symbol of excellence in sport aviation.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>National Air and Space Museum<\/strong> &mdash; Smithsonian collection record, Pitts S-1S Special<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Two seats, and a factory<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The two-seat S-2 first flew in 1967 and received its type certificate in 1971. It turned the Pitts into a trainer: an instructor could now sit in the same aircraft as the student. Factory production was set up at Afton, Wyoming, and the certified S-1S followed in the early 1970s. The 260 hp S-2B followed, and the current S-2C is certified for +6 and &minus;5 g.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/pitts-s-2b-special-n511mf-two-seat-antwerp.jpg\" alt=\"Yellow two-seat Pitts S-2B Special N511MF parked at the Stampe Fly-In at Antwerp in 2023\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A two-seat Pitts S-2B at the Stampe Fly-In, Antwerp, in 2023. The two-seat Pitts turned the design into the classic advanced aerobatic trainer. Photo: Ad Meskens \/ CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Pitts also went into uniform. Wikipedia lists Chile and Venezuela as military operators, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/display-teams\/royal-jordanian-falcons\/\">Royal Jordanian Falcons<\/a> once flew four Pitts S-2As. Civilian teams such as the Goodyear Eagles flew S-2Bs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lm_GTGn1PXM\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">The International Council of Air Shows inducts Curtis Pitts into its Hall of Fame in 2002.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Dethroned, not retired<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Over time, newer and more powerful designs took over the top Unlimited category, which the Smithsonian notes is the one level where the Pitts is no longer competitive. Everywhere else, from basic to advanced categories, it still wins, and it remains the classic aircraft for advanced aerobatic training.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Curtis Pitts died in 2005 at the age of 89, still working on a new two-seat Unlimited biplane. The rights to the Pitts name now sit with Aviat Aircraft in Afton. And according to Wikipedia, in 2016 air show pilot Spencer Suderman used a modified single-seat Pitts to set a world record of 98 consecutive inverted flat-spin turns.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Lzo-jVSqCtI\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">Curtis Pitts visits Kermit Weeks at Fantasy of Flight, a rare chance to see the designer himself.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Not bad for a little biplane that Curtis Pitts began sketching in the middle of a world war. Betty Skelton said she wore it rather than sat in it. Eighty years on, pilots around the world are still putting it on.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: National Air and Space Museum (Pitts S-1C Special; Pitts S-1S Special; Meet Betty Skelton), Wikipedia (Pitts Special)<\/em><\/p>\r\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Who designed the Pitts Special?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Pitts Special was designed by Curtis Pitts, who began work on a small single-seat aerobatic biplane during the Second World War. The prototype flew in the mid-1940s. Pitts later sold plans to homebuilders and developed the two-seat S-2. He died in 2005 at the age of 89.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did the Pitts Special dominate aerobatic competition?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Pitts Special dominated because of its small size, light weight, short wingspan and extreme agility, according to the Smithsonian. The competition S-1S of 1960 added four ailerons for a faster roll rate and symmetrical aerofoils so it flew equally well inverted, giving pilots a clear edge in international contests.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What was Little Stinker?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Little Stinker is the Pitts S-1C built by Curtis Pitts in 1946, the oldest surviving Pitts Special. Betty Skelton bought it in 1948 and won the International Feminine Aerobatic Championship with it in 1949 and 1950. She later donated it to the Smithsonian, and it hangs in the Udvar-Hazy Center.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did the Pitts Special win the World Aerobatic Championships?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. The US Aerobatic Teams of 1970 and 1972 won the world team championships flying Pitts S-1S biplanes almost exclusively. In 1972 both individual world champions, Charlie Hillard and Mary Gaffaney, also flew S-1S Pitts Specials, and two team members flew the new two-seat S-2A.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What is the difference between the Pitts S-1 and S-2?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Pitts S-1 is the single-seat version, while the S-2 is a larger two-seat version that first flew in 1967 and was certified in 1971. The two-seater lets an instructor fly with a student, which made the Pitts a classic advanced aerobatic trainer. Current certified models are built by Aviat Aircraft.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Is the Pitts Special still used in competition?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. The Smithsonian notes that the Pitts remains competitive at every level of aerobatic competition except the top Unlimited category, where newer designs took over. It is still widely used for basic to advanced competition, for aerobatic training and for sport flying.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who designed the Pitts Special?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Pitts Special was designed by Curtis Pitts, who began work on a small single-seat aerobatic biplane during the Second World War. The prototype flew in the mid-1940s. Pitts later sold plans to homebuilders and developed the two-seat S-2. He died in 2005 at the age of 89.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did the Pitts Special dominate aerobatic competition?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Pitts Special dominated because of its small size, light weight, short wingspan and extreme agility, according to the Smithsonian. The competition S-1S of 1960 added four ailerons for a faster roll rate and symmetrical aerofoils so it flew equally well inverted, giving pilots a clear edge in international contests.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was Little Stinker?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Little Stinker is the Pitts S-1C built by Curtis Pitts in 1946, the oldest surviving Pitts Special. Betty Skelton bought it in 1948 and won the International Feminine Aerobatic Championship with it in 1949 and 1950. She later donated it to the Smithsonian, and it hangs in the Udvar-Hazy Center.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did the Pitts Special win the World Aerobatic Championships?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. The US Aerobatic Teams of 1970 and 1972 won the world team championships flying Pitts S-1S biplanes almost exclusively. In 1972 both individual world champions, Charlie Hillard and Mary Gaffaney, also flew S-1S Pitts Specials, and two team members flew the new two-seat S-2A.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is the difference between the Pitts S-1 and S-2?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Pitts S-1 is the single-seat version, while the S-2 is a larger two-seat version that first flew in 1967 and was certified in 1971. The two-seater lets an instructor fly with a student, which made the Pitts a classic advanced aerobatic trainer. 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It is still widely used for basic to advanced competition, for aerobatic training and for sport flying.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/betty-skelton-little-stinker-aerobatics-land-speed-records\/\">Betty Skelton: Aerobatic Champion, Then Land Speed Record Holder<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/redout-negative-g-explained-pilots-aerobatics\/\">Redout Explained: What Negative G Does to a Pilot<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/barnstormers-1920s-flying-circus-curtiss-jenny-wing-walkers-lindbergh\/\">Barnstormers: How 1920s Flying Circuses Sold America on Aviation<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/bob-hoover-chuck-yeager-called-him-the-greatest-stick-and-rudder-man-alive\/\">Bob Hoover: Chuck Yeager Called Him the Greatest Stick-and-Rudder Man Alive<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Curtis Pitts built a tiny, agile biplane in the 1940s. By 1972 the Pitts Special had won the World Aerobatic Championships. Here is why it dominated.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":31774162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31774317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pitts Special: The Biplane That Ruled Aerobatics | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Pitts Special, Curtis Pitts&#039; tiny aerobatic biplane, won the 1972 World Aerobatic Championships and still trains pilots to fly upside down.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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