|
Bellanca aircraft history, performance and specifications
Early
Bellancas
The Bellanca company had a long pre-WWII
history of building efficient light
aircraft. Giuseppe M. Bellanca
emigrated to the United States from Italy
and was an early builder of aircraft in the
20's. He established a reputation for
designing highly efficient and fast aircraft
starting with the Bellanca CF series.
Eventually G. M. Bellanca came to work for
the Wright company, where he was
commissioned to design an airplane to
showcase the Wright company's new J-5
Whirlwind radial engine, the first truly
reliable aircraft engine.
The resulting
airplane was the Wright-Bellanca, which
Charles Lindbergh tried to purchase for his
transatlantic trip. Unfortunately for
Bellanca, the owners of the airplane played
games. They informed Lindbergh that
they'd be happy to sell the airplane but
that they would name their own pilot.
Lindbergh understandably walked away and
took his business to Ryan, and subsequently
made history with the Spirit of St. Louis
(also powered by a Wright Whirlwind).
It was a close
thing, though, because the Wright-Bellanca
was ready to fly through the spring of 1927
leading up to Lindbergh's flight and both
planes were located at Roosevelt Field near
New York City. What kept the Wright-Bellanca
on the ground was not mechanical problems
but the courts, since the owners were suing
each other over who would be the pilot.
Ultimately, the Wright-Bellanca, named Miss
Columbia, did make a transatlantic flight
from New York to Berlin two weeks after
Lindbergh's milestone.
In many ways
the Miss Columbia flight was more
interesting technically, since the Wright-Bellanca
was a general purpose airplane seating more
than one passenger. The only modifications
for its transatlantic flight consisted of
removing the rear seats and replacing them
with extra fuel tanks. By contrast,
The Spirit of St. Louis was purpose-built
for the transatlantic flight and only
carried one passenger in an awkward blind
cockpit. Lindbergh did, however, have
the vision, innovative ideas about
navigation, and ultimately had the will to
make the flight and make it first, and he
deserves his place in history along with his
airplane.
G. M. Bellanca
found new, more upstanding, financial
backers and continued to build airplanes.
Descendents of the Miss Columbia evolved
into the CH series, which were used in
numerous famous and record-setting flights.
One of the most notable was the Miss Veedol,
flown by Clyde Pangborn on the first nonstop
flight across the Pacific in 1931 from Japan
to Wenatchee, Washington. To save
weight the wheels were jettisoned after
takeoff, and the aircraft belly landed (e.g.
crashed) upon arrival. A replica known
as the Spirit of Wenatchee is currently
being constructed to commemorate this
flight.
G.M. Bellanca's designs turned out to be
excellent bushplanes, and his Pacemaker and
Skyrocket designs saw extensive use in
Canada, Alaska, and bush locations around
the world. One of the most
interesting looking is this Aircruiser,
which is located at the Tillamook Air Museum
in Oregon. This aircraft is huge and
has the distinctive Bellanca airfoil-struts.
Cruisair
In
the late thirties Bellanca realized that
cheaper, smaller airplanes were the future
of general aviation. The Cruisair
Junior was initially designed in 1939 as a
light, three to four place cruiser powered
by a 70hp or 90hp LeBlond radial. This
very rare Cruisair Junior is kept at the
Carolinas Air Museum in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
Following the war the model 14-13-2 Cruisair
Senior was built in relatively large numbers
with Franklin 150 hp 6 cylinder flat engines
and a Aeromatic propeller. The main
landing gear retracted into the wing using a
manually cranked bicycle chain system.
This photograph shows a nicely restored
14-13-2, although it has been upgraded to a
non-original Lycoming engine.
You can distinguish the earlier 14-13
Cruisair series from Cruisemasters by
smaller tail end boards which are shaped
vaguely like kidneys as opposed to ovals on
the Cruisemasters, and smaller details such
as Aeromatic propellers, size of the
cowling, and ailerons with external
bellcranks and exposed control cables.
Some Cruisairs will look like later models
because they have been converted to larger
Lycoming O-360 or O-435 engines with
controllable propellers.
Cruisemaster
The original Bellanca company folded in the
mid-50s, however the design continued to
live on with the Northern Aircraft Company (aka
Downer Aircraft), who produced upgraded
Cruisemasters. The first model 14-19
Cruisemaster was a strengthened Cruisair
with a 190 hp Lycoming O-435 flat 6 engine,
which was succeeded by the 14-19-2 with a
230 hp Continental O-470 flat 6. The
different models are often known by their
horsepower as "190's" and "230's". The
Cruisemasters were upgraded with a stronger
wing and frame, higher weights, hydraulic
landing gear and flaps, fully enclosed
aileron push-pull rods instead of external
cables, and larger tail boards as compared
to the Cruisair.
The 14-19-2 was the last taildragger, as
with the introduction of the short-lived
14-19-3, or "260", where a nosewheel was
added and the engine upgraded to the 260 hp
IO-470 Continental. Other construction
details remain fairly consistent with the
230, such as wire-braced horizontal
stabilizer and triple tails.
The 260 led
directly to the development of the 17-30 and
17-31 Viking series, with larger engines,
turbocharging, and externally a single large
swept vertical stabilizer with strut braced
horizontal stabilizer. All of the
Cruisemasters and Vikings share the type
certificate and wing design, and they have
almost identical cabin sizes. The
Vikings are heavier and faster but they fly
very similarly to the Cruisemasters. I
think the Viking would be an excellent
compromise plane for the IFR cross-country
mission.
The Viking was quite popular in the 60's and
70's, and many used Vikings are available on
the market. Although production is
very limited today, the
many-times-reincarnated Bellanca company
still exists in Alexandria, MN and is
building to order a few new Vikings a year.
|
aircraft database
history and gallery
