AviaBellanca Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft design and manufacturing company. Prior to 1983, it was known as the Bellanca Aircraft Company. The company was founded in 1927 by

Giuseppe Mario Bellanca Giuseppe Mario Bellanca (March 19, 1886 – December 26, 1960) was an Italian-American aviation pioneer, airplane designer and builder, who is credited with many design firsts and whose aircraft broke many aviation records. He was inducted into t ...

, although it was preceded by previous businesses and partnerships in which aircraft with the Bellanca name were produced, including Wright-Bellanca, in which he was in partnership with Wright Aeronautical. In 2021 the company was reformed as Bellanca Aircraft, Inc and located in

Sulphur, Oklahoma Sulphur is a city in and county seat of Murray County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 4,929 at the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent gain over the figure of 4,794 in 2000. The area around Sulphur has been noted for its mineral springs, sin ...

. The new company supplies maintenance and aircraft parts, for the legacy Cruisemaster and Viking aircraft. Bellanca wb 2

Bellanca XRE-3 Skyrocket USMC c1933 (cropped)

History

After Giuseppe Mario Bellanca, the designer and builder of Italy's first aircraft, moved to the United States in 1911, he began to design aircraft for a number of firms, including the

Maryland Pressed Steel Company Maryland Pressed Steel Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of the Bellanca CD, and CE aircraft. The New York & Hagerstown Metal Stamping Co manufactured arms for the British and was reorganized into the Maryland Pressed Steel Company ...

Wright Aeronautical Corporation Wright Aeronautical (1919–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Paterson, New Jersey. It was the successor corporation to Wright-Martin. It built aircraft and was a supplier of aircraft engines to other builders in the ...

and the Columbia Aircraft Corporation. Bellanca founded his own company, Bellanca Aircraft Corporation of America, in 1927, sited first in Richmond Hill, New York and moving in 1928 to New Castle (Wilmington), Delaware. In the 1920s and 1930s, Bellanca's aircraft of his own design were known for their efficiency and low operating cost, gaining fame for world record endurance and distance flights. Lindbergh's first choice for his New York to Paris flight was a Bellanca WB-2. The company's insistence on selecting the crew drove Lindbergh to

Ryan Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

.Mondey 1978, p. 96. Bellanca remained president and chairman of the board from the corporation's inception on the last day of 1927 until he sold the company to L. Albert and Sons in 1954. From that time on, the Bellanca line was part of a succession of companies that maintained the lineage of the original aircraft produced by Bellanca.Palmer 2001, p. 51.

Aircraft

Famous individual aircraft

*'' Lituanica'' *'' Miss Veedol'' *'' The American Nurse''

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Mondey, David. ''The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Aircraft''. Secaucus, NJ: Chartwell Books Inc, 1978. . * Palmer, Trisha, ed. "Bellanca Viking Series". ''Encyclopedia of the World's Commercial and Private Aircraft''. New York: Crescent Books, 2001. .

External links

*
AviaBellanca Aircraft Corporation website archives
on Archive.org
Friends of Bellanca Field
* The main focus of th
George J. Frebert collection on Delaware aviation
and th
George J. Frebert photograph collection on Delaware aviation
— ''both about Giuseppe Bellanca & his Bellanca Aircraft Corporation; in the

Hagley Museum and Library The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Pont ...

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The Story of Bellanca Planes – Popular Aviation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aviabellanca Aircraft Aircraft manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Minnesota Defunct manufacturing companies based in Delaware Douglas County, Minnesota History of Omaha, Nebraska 1927 establishments in New York (state)