Giuseppe Mario Bellanca (March 19, 1886 – December 26, 1960) was an

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

aviation pioneer, airplane designer and builder, who is credited with many design firsts and whose aircraft broke many aviation records. He was inducted into the

National Aviation Hall of Fame The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with it ...

in 1973. The Bellanca C.F., the world's first enclosed-cabin monoplane, is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Bellanca was known mostly for his long range aircraft which led the way for the advancement of international and commercial air transportation.

Biography

He was born on March 19, 1886, in Sciacca, Italy. He graduated with an engineering degree from

Politecnico di Milano The Polytechnic University of Milan () is the largest technical university in Italy, with about 42,000 students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and higher education courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 18 ...

. He emigrated to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in the United States in October 1911 where he operated the Bellanca Flying School (1912–1916). In 1913 he created the first modern aircraft design (tractor design) that featured an engine and propeller in the front with a wing in the middle and a tail to the aft, which was the opposite configuration for aircraft of the time. Bellanca's "tractor" aircraft design offered a lot of performance and safety advantages over the old standard design, and was adopted internationally as the new standard configuration for almost all following aircraft, and is the common configuration recognized today. In 1916 Bellanca was in charge of 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 ...

aircraft division, hired for the purpose of designing and developing aircraft for World War I. Bellanca built two models of biplanes called the CD (single seater) and the CE (two seat trainer). While both models outperformed the Army

Jenny Jenny may refer to: * Jenny (given name), a popular feminine name and list of real and fictional people * Jenny (surname), a family name Animals * Jenny (donkey), a female donkey * Jenny (gorilla), the oldest gorilla in captivity at the time of ...

biplanes, the war ended and the military was no longer interested. Maryland Pressed Steel filed for bankruptcy in 1920. In 1921, he moved to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, and with

Victor Roos Victor H. Roos (April 26, 1888 - October 6, 1964) was an American entrepreneur and the founder or co-founder of several early aircraft companies, including Cessna Aircraft. Biography The only Bellanca CF built, at the National Air and Space Mu ...

, formed the Roos- Bellanca Aircraft Company. In 1922 he built the first enclosed-cabin

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

. Called the

Bellanca CF The Bellanca CF is an early enclosed high-wing monoplane designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca that led to a successful series of Bellanca aircraft. Bellanca was nominated for the Collier Trophy in 1922 for the CF design. Development Bellanca had ...

, this aircraft is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum's

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous ...

. The CF was also the first aircraft design to use "lifting struts" with a wide chord and airfoil to add strength and lift to the wings. In January 1927 he entered into a partnership with Charles A. Levine and formed the Columbia Aircraft Corp. Bellanca created the "Bellanca A" airfoil which could lift twice the weight of other airfoils of the time. This new airfoil sparked the era of commercial air transportation and militarily it made long range bombing possible. Bellanca used this new airfoil on the six-place WB-1 and WB-2, which were the first long range passenger planes. On April 12–14, 1927,

Clarence Chamberlin Clarence Duncan Chamberlin (November 11, 1893 – October 31, 1976) was an American pioneer of aviation, being the second man to pilot a fixed-wing aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to the European mainland, while carrying the fir ...

and

Bert Acosta Bertrand Blanchard Acosta (January 1, 1895 – September 1, 1954) was a record-setting aviator and test pilot. He and Clarence D. Chamberlin set an endurance record of 51 hours, 11 minutes, and 25 seconds in the air. He later flew in the Span ...

set a new world's non-refueled endurance record of 51.5 hours in the Bellanca designed WB-2. The WB-2 was renamed the ''Columbia'', and later ''Miss Columbia''.

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

's first choice for an aircraft to cross the Atlantic with was the ''Columbia''. Different sources claim different reasons for Lindbergh not being able to purchase the ''Miss Columbia'', but according to Joseph Scafetta Jr., "He was turned down when Lindbergh insisted on making the transatlantic flight by himself. Bellanca and Levine thought that it was suicidal to do so because no one could stay awake alone the required number of hours to complete the flight." The ''Columbia'' lost the race to be first across the Atlantic to Lindbergh because of a court injunction grounding the plane due to a contract dispute between Levine and a pilot named Bertaud who was supposed to be a co-pilot on the ''Miss Columbia'' for the crossing. "On May 20th, 1927, Lindbergh took off and completed the flight to Paris. Two weeks later, the Columbia took off for Germany with Levine as a passenger. Landing in Berlin, they beat Lindbergh’s distance record. Ironically, Bellanca’s airplane had been complete several years before the Spirit of St. Louis and could have been first to cross the Atlantic had it not been for the lawsuit. 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." June 4, 1927, the Bellanca ''Columbia'' makes the Atlantic crossing, the first ever with a passenger. It was piloted by Clarence Chamberlin who was accompanied by Charles Levine the first passenger/co-pilot. Columbia took-off from

Roosevelt Field Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located east-southeast of Mineola, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a training field (Hazel ...

in Long Island, New York, and landed in

Eisleben Eisleben is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is famous as both the hometown of the influential theologian Martin Luther and the place where he died; hence, its official name is Lutherstadt Eisleben. First mentioned in the late 10th century, E ...

, Germany, after a forty-three hour flight. They were supposed to land in Berlin, but ran out of gas. After refueling the crew arrived in Berlin where they were met by a crowd of 150,000 waving German and American flags. On July 4, 1927, Bellanca was featured on the cover of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

''. After the short-lived partnership with Levine, Bellanca formed a new company, The Bellanca Aircraft Corporation of America in financial partnership with the

du Pont family The du Pont family () or Du Pont family is a prominent American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817). It has been one of the richest families in the United States since the mid-19th century, when it founded its f ...

. The company would go on to develop a wide range of general aviation and light commercial aircraft.

American Champion American Champion Aircraft Corporation, is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft headquartered at the Rochester, Wisconsin airport. Founded in 1988 on the acquisition of the Champ, Citabria, Scout, and Decathlon, it has been producing replac ...

still produces products with a Bellanca lineage. "On November 13, 1928, Bellanca received his first U.S. Patent No. 1,691,105 for an inwardly retracting landing gear that reduced drag during flight. This invention was the first fully retractable commercial landing gear ever developed and had been installed on the ''Rome'' during the previous year." On October 3, 1931, a Bellanca model CH-400 Skyrocket named the ''

Miss Veedol ''Miss Veedol'' was the first airplane to fly non-stop across the Pacific Ocean. On October 5, 1931, Clyde Pangborn and co-pilot Hugh Herndon landed in the hills of East Wenatchee, Washington, following a 41-hour flight from Sabishiro Beach, ...

'' was the first aircraft to cross the Pacific non-stop.

flew from Samishiro Beach, Japan to Wenatchee, Washington. It was flown by

Clyde Pangborn Clyde Edward Pangborn ( ''c''. October 28, 1895 – March 29, 1958), nicknamed "Upside-Down Pangborn", was an American aviator and barnstormer who performed aerial stunts in the 1920s for the Gates Flying Circus. He was its half-owner, chief pil ...

and co-piloted by Hugh Herndon Jr. Bellanca temporarily left the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation In 1941 after a disagreement with the company directors during a corporate refinancing. Bellanca made an agreement with Andrew Jackson Higgins, president of

Higgins Industries Higgins Industries was the company owned by Andrew Higgins based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Higgins Industries is most famous for the design and production of the Higgins boat, an amphibious landing craft referred to as LCVP (landi ...

, in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

to create a Bellanca Aviation department within Higgins to design

cargo aircraft A cargo aircraft (also known as freight aircraft, freighter, airlifter or cargo jet) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted for the carriage of cargo rather than passengers. Such aircraft usually do not incorporate passenger ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The company was under a contract to the U.S. Army Air Corps. In 1941 Bellanca designed the first "

blended wing body A blended wing body (BWB), also known as blended body or hybrid wing body (HWB), is a fixed-wing aircraft having no clear dividing line between the wings and the main body of the craft. The aircraft has distinct wing and body structures, which ar ...

" concept, which resembles the modern

B-2 bomber The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses. A subsonic flying ...

but with a twin tail boom for stability and two pusher propellers and had low drag laminar flow air flow over the wing. During World War II Bellanca Aircraft Corporation manufactured and supplied components and equipment for the U.S. Military (Army and Navy) making various parts for the C-46, B-26, Mars, Helldiver, B-24, PBM-3, C-109, And A-30." In 1954, he formed the Bellanca Development Company. Bellanca was granted approximately 45 patents in his career. According to aviation historians Alan and Drina Welch Able, "G.M. Bellanca did more for general aviation than any other person during aviation's first 100 years." He died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

at Memorial Hospital in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on December 26, 1960. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973.

Notes

References

Tommaso Campailla Tommaso Campailla (7 April 1668 – 7 February 1740) was an Italian philosopher, doctor, politician, poet and teacher. Life Campailla was born in Modica in 1668 to the aristocratic family of Antonio and Adriana Giardina. When sixteen years o ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellanca, Giuseppe Mario 1886 births 1960 deaths People from Sciacca Italian emigrants to the United States Aviation inventors Aviation pioneers Members of the Early Birds of Aviation Polytechnic University of Milan alumni Deaths from leukemia Flight endurance record holders American aviation record holders 20th-century American inventors Deaths from cancer in New York (state)

Biography

Archive

See also

Notes

References