# Forgotten Bellanca



## Wildr1 (Mar 6, 2018)

In 1914, Bellanca opened a flying school at the airfield, where one of his students was Fiorello LaGuardia, the future mayor of New York City. In 1920, he created the CF, an airliner that could carry four passengers in an enclosed cabin. The CF entered three major performance contests in 1922, won them all, and earned a reputation as "the world's best airplane." Unfortunately, the market was then glutted with surplus WW1 airplanes, and Bellanca couldn't sell his record setting aircraft. He was hampered, as well, by a lack of capital—most of his backers were small businessmen from Brooklyn's Italian neighborhoods. In the early 30's he tried to interest the US government in a bomber project the 77-140, based on his successful Aircruiser civil transport. The Aircruiser's single, nose-mounted engine was replaced by twin engines on the upper wing. The United States military were not interested in the type, but the Columbian airforce bought a small number, most were the 77-320. The Aircruiser was considered by many pilots to be the most efficient single engine aircraft ever built. It was one of the few aircraft that could carry it's own weight.


----------



## Wildr1 (Mar 6, 2018)

1. Aircruiser, 2. &3. Bellanca_C-27A_USAF, 4. -7 the 77-140 bomber.

Reactions: Winner Winner:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## fubar57 (Mar 6, 2018)

Nice. The bomber looks like it was built using spare parts


----------



## pbehn (Mar 6, 2018)

It would have been ideal for training on instrument flying, the pilots view seems to be only upwards.


----------



## Capt. Vick (Mar 6, 2018)

Love it! Thanks for posting.


----------



## vikingBerserker (Mar 6, 2018)

I like the bomber version, it has a certain elegance to it. Though admittedly I also like French Bombers

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wildr1 (Mar 6, 2018)

77-320 float plane bomber version, the lower photo shows an engine box, apparently assembled on the beach.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Mar 6, 2018)

All the aircraft look like they came from the "French school" of aircraft design (as in "that aircraft's so ugly, it could be French!").

I know...I know. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## chuter (Mar 8, 2018)

HA! There's a P-200 Aircruiser (C-27C) at Erickson Aircraft Collection in Madras, OR (formerly at Tillamook, OR) and I have seen it. I'm a HUGE Ballanca fan.


----------



## Wildr1 (Mar 8, 2018)



Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Shortround6 (Mar 8, 2018)

By 1936-37 Bellanca had progressed to much more modern _looking _aircraft




His earlier aircraft had always been _efficient_ even if a bit strange looking.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Graeme (Mar 9, 2018)

There was an Aircruiser still flying in 1974 - when this was published...

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Winner Winner:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Gnomey (Mar 9, 2018)

Nice shots!


----------



## Wildr1 (Mar 11, 2018)




----------



## Graeme (Mar 11, 2018)



Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wildr1 (Mar 11, 2018)

Aircruiser

Reactions: Winner Winner:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## dogsbody (Mar 12, 2018)

A local Bellanca Aircruiser:





W. L. Brintnell [left and] Stan McMillan [at Fort] McMurray [Alta.] First load of uranium concentrate flown from Great Bear Lake to Fort McMurray 
Date: April 5, 1935

Credit: Library and Archives Canada
MIKAN 3382001

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## dogsbody (Mar 12, 2018)

Another local photo:

Title: Western Canada Airways Base, Fort McMurray, Alberta
Date: [between 1936 and 1937]

Notes: "In the Syne at McMurray." Three aircraft on skiis for winter landings.

Creator: Brintnell, Leigh
Credit: Provincial Archives of Alberta, A5800






Chris

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## dogsbody (Mar 12, 2018)

One more!

CF-AWR - Mackenzie Air Services Bellanca Aircruiser at Fort McMurray. Pilot (white shirt) Stan MacMillan, Engr Robt. Hodgkins. Imperial Oil gas drums to right. Take-off preparations. 1930

CREDIT: NWT Archives/Edmonton Air Museum Committee Collection/N-1979-003: 0356





Chris

Reactions: Like Like:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## Graeme (Mar 14, 2018)

The first Bellanca - well, a replica anyway...

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wildr1 (Mar 23, 2018)

In March 1925, Bellanca joined the Wright Aeronautical Corporation (Orville Wright of the Wright Brothers) of Paterson, N.J. It was suggested that he (Bellanca) design a machine to win the Orteig Prize for the first plane to fly nonstop between New York and Paris. At that time Wright Aeronautical was seeking an aircraft to demonstrate its remarkable new 200-hp J-4 Whirlwind engine. The result, completed in the fall of 1925, was the Wright-Bellanca WB-1. The WB-1 was wrecked in a landing accident, Bellanca developed what was to become the iconic WB-2, powered by a 220-hp J-5 Whirlwind Later, when Wright quit the airplane business to concentrate on engines, Bellanca entered into an uneasy partnership with millionaire New York scrap dealer Charles Levine, who founded the Columbia Aircraft Corporation after acquiring the WB-2. Meanwhile, first Wright and then Levine turned down offers from Charles Lindbergh to buy the WB-2 for his solo transatlantic attempt. Lindbergh later wrote admiringly of the WB-2: “In a Bellanca filled with fuel tanks I could fly on all night, like the moon. With the engine throttled down it could stay aloft for days.” The rest is history, Lindbergh went on to Paris winning the Orteig prize. The WB-2 flew from New York to Germany three weeks later, 315 miles further than Lindbergh's flight.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wurger (Mar 24, 2018)




----------



## Wildr1 (Mar 31, 2018)

The Columbia flew Non-stop from Roosevelt Field to Eisleben, Germany, in just under
43 hours, establishing a new flight distance record in the process.

Not only did the Columbia fly further than the Spirit of St. Louis, but it carried a passenger. It also had a windshield so the pilot could see ahead. This design set a standard for the modern aircraft. Bellanca appeared on the cover of Time magazine, in recognition of this achievement.

Another ironic
coincidence Time magazine's man of the year for 1927
..... you guessed it Charles Lindbergh.







A Bellanca aircraft, in 1931, "Miss Veedol" made the first trans-Pacific flight, from Japan to the state of Washington, with Clyde Pangborn at the controls. Pangborn belly-landed outside of Seattle because Pangborn ditched the landing gear to lessen the airplane’s weight.

Over the next five years, Bellanca aircraft set record after record for endurance and distance, including his Pathfinder which made the second Atlantic crossing from America to Spain, continuing on to Rome. Bellanca aircraft blazed the trail for international commercial air transportation. He was known mostly for his long range aircraft but he also built racing planes such as the 28-92 tri-motor racer which placed second in the 1938 Bendix races. The Bellanca Flash racer model 28-90 set a speed record across the Atlantic in 13 hours in 1936.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## at6 (Mar 31, 2018)

Graeme said:


> The first Bellanca - well, a replica anyway...
> 
> View attachment 485850
> View attachment 485851


Forerunner to today's ultralights?


----------



## Wildr1 (Apr 6, 2018)

Bellanca 28-70 "IRISH SWOOP RACER" First is a racer that has this information on the back. Bellanca London-Melborne racer. Build for Col. James Fitzamanrico. 1934.
















Bellanca P-200 information on the back of image." Old airbus, used for commuting service between Long Island estates and Wall str. summer 1934"

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wurger (Apr 6, 2018)




----------



## vikingBerserker (Apr 6, 2018)

He really did some amazing work!


----------



## Wildr1 (May 19, 2018)



Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wurger (May 19, 2018)




----------



## Wildr1 (Jul 23, 2019)



Reactions: Like Like:
3 | Like List reactions


----------

