From Sciacca to Brooklyn

Giuseppe Mario Bellanca was born in Sciacca, Sicily, in 1886, studied engineering in Milan and built Italy’s first aeroplane before emigrating to Brooklyn in October 1911. He ran a flying school there, and in one of aviation’s happier trades taught Fiorello La Guardia to fly in exchange for driving lessons. He then designed aircraft for Maryland Pressed Steel, Wright Aeronautical and Charles Levine’s Columbia Aircraft before founding his own company in 1927, backed by the du Pont family and based from 1928 at New Castle, Delaware.

The aeroplane Lindbergh couldn’t buy

His Wright-Bellanca WB-2 of 1926 was an efficient high-wing cabin monoplane with a windshield, a rarity then. In April 1927 Clarence Chamberlin and Bert Acosta kept it aloft for 51.5 hours, a world endurance record. Charles Lindbergh wanted it for his Paris flight, but Levine insisted on choosing the crew and a lawsuit grounded the aircraft, so Lindbergh went to Ryan. Two weeks after his flight, on 4 June 1927, Chamberlin flew the renamed Columbia from New York to Eisleben in Germany with Levine aboard: the first transatlantic passenger, and a longer flight than Lindbergh’s.

Across the Pacific

Bellancas became the record-breaker’s choice. In 1929 George Haldeman flew a CH-300 Pacemaker non-stop from New York to Cuba, a record that stood for 55 years. On 3 October 1931 Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon Jr took off from Sabishiro Beach in Japan in the CH-400 Skyrocket Miss Veedol and landed at Wenatchee, Washington: the first non-stop crossing of the Pacific. In 1933 the Lithuanian airmen Darius and Girėnas flew their Bellanca Lituanica across the Atlantic but crashed in Germany short of Kaunas.

Bush planes and Cruisairs

The same efficiency made Pacemakers and Skyrockets favourites in the Alaskan and Canadian bush, and the RCAF bought them from 1929, some built by Canadian Vickers. Bellanca tried bombers and racers in the 1930s, including the 28-70 Irish Swoop built for the 1934 MacRobertson race. After the war the Cruisair Senior, about 600 built, and the 14-19 Cruisemaster carried the line on. Bellanca sold the company to L. Albert and Sons in 1954; he died in 1960 and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973.

Viking, Decathlon and decline

Under later owners the 14-19 grew into the 17-30 Viking, a fast four-seat retractable first flown in 1967, with 1,356 built. Bellanca took over Champion Aircraft in the early 1970s and built more than 600 Decathlon aerobatic aircraft before its assets were liquidated in 1981. The Champion designs passed eventually to American Champion, which still builds them. AviaBellanca carried the name from 1983, and a new Bellanca Aircraft supports the Viking and Cruisemaster fleet from Oklahoma.

Заводы

• New Castle works · New Castle (Wilmington), Delaware — Main plant from 1928; Bellanca Airfield
• Richmond Hill · Richmond Hill, New York — First premises, 1927
• Alexandria · Alexandria, Minnesota — Later Bellanca base until 2022

Люди

• Giuseppe Mario Bellanca · founder and designer — 1886–1960; National Aviation Hall of Fame 1973
• Clarence Chamberlin · test pilot — Flew the Columbia across the Atlantic, 1927
• Charles A. Levine · financier — Columbia Aircraft partner; first transatlantic passenger
• Clyde Pangborn · pilot — Flew Miss Veedol across the Pacific with Hugh Herndon Jr, 1931

Рекорды и первые достижения

• World non-refuelled endurance record, 51.5 hours, WB-2, 12–14 April 1927
• First transatlantic flight with a passenger, Columbia, 4–6 June 1927
• First non-stop flight across the Pacific, Miss Veedol, 3–5 October 1931
• New York–Cuba non-stop, George Haldeman, CH-300, 1929; unbroken for 55 years