Background
Giuseppe Bellanca was born on March 19, 1886, in Sciacca, Sicily, the son of Andrea Bellanca, a miller, and Concetta Merlo.
Giuseppe Bellanca was born on March 19, 1886, in Sciacca, Sicily, the son of Andrea Bellanca, a miller, and Concetta Merlo.
After attending local schools, Giuseppe entered the Istituto Tecnico of Milan in 1904, from which he graduated four years later with a teaching certificate in mathematics. He then studied at the Milan Politecnico, which awarded him degrees in mathematics and engineering in 1910.
Bellanca's interest in aeronautics was aroused in July 1908, when he observed the flight of Léon Delagrange, pioneering French aviator, at Turin. With two associates he set to work on the design and construction of an aircraft. The first machine crashed during a test flight in September 1909. Bellanca's second aircraft never flew because he could not raise the money to purchase an engine. Largely through the efforts of his brother August, who had emigrated earlier, Bellanca came to the United States in September 1912. While living in Brooklyn, he built a parasol/monoplane - a single-wing aircraft in which the pilot rode in an exposed structure below the wings - which he used to teach himself to fly.
Bellanca opened a flying school at Garden City, New York, in 1914. His most famous student was Fiorello La Guardia, then a young lawyer. Bellanca joined the aeronautical division of the Maryland Pressed Steel Company, Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1916; and during the next four years he designed two biplanes, essentially refinements of conventional designs. By 1920 he had gained confidence in his skill as a designer and was ready to move into other areas. Aware of the early wind tunnel experiments of Gustave Eiffel, Bellanca sought to design an aircraft with minimum drag and maximum lift. Plans for what later became known as the CF were completed late in 1920. Bellanca concluded an agreement with the Omaha Aircraft Company in 1921 for manufacture of the CF, but the company went bankrupt before the prototype was built. Victor Roos, a motorcycle dealer in Omaha, agreed to provide funds to complete the machine, which was test-flown in June 1922.
Experts soon hailed the CF as the most advanced aircraft of the time. A high-wing monoplane with an enclosed cabin for the pilot and four passengers, it had double the lift per pound of thrust and twice the glide angle of other aircraft. This advanced performance came from high-lift, low-drag wings incorporating the Bellanca "M" airfoil; the use of airfoil lifting struts (designed not only to provide support for the wings but also to supply additional lift); and other aerodynamic refinements. The CF won thirteen prizes for performance and efficiency at air meets during the summer of 1922, and Bellanca was nominated for the prestigious Collier Trophy. Although the CF was clearly superior to contemporary aircraft, Bellanca found no buyers for it because the market was saturated with inexpensive World War I surplus machines.
The next two years were lean ones. Bellanca received a contract to modify aircraft operated by the Air Mail Service of the Post Office Department. But the results, while technically rewarding, were not rewarding financially. In March 1925 he joined the Wright Aeronautical Company, charged with designing an aircraft to show off the company's new Whirlwind engine. Two prototypes resulted: the Wright-Bellanca (W-B) I and II. Although the W-B II, a further refinement and improvement of the basic CF concept, proved the most efficient aircraft of the time, Wright decided not to go into production, lest competition with airframe manufacturers hinder potential sales of the Whirlwind engine.
In December 1926, Bellanca founded the Columbia Aircraft Company in partnership with Charles A. Levine, an eccentric Brooklyn millionaire. The company purchased the W-B II prototype, modified it, and christened it Columbia. In March 1927, Columbia established an endurance record of fifty-one hours and thirty minutes. The aircraft's performance sparked the interest of Charles A. Lindbergh, who sought to acquire it for his proposed transatlantic flight. Although Bellanca came to favor the idea, Levine did not. Instead, Columbia was readied for a transatlantic flight with Clarence D. Chamberlin as pilot. Legal complications prevented the aircraft's departure until after Lindbergh's successful flight. Two weeks later, on June 4-6, 1927, Chamberlin flew Columbia, with Levine as passenger, from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, to Eisleben, Germany, a distance of 3, 905 miles - 301 miles farther than Lindbergh had flown. This flight brought Bellanca both recognition and financial support.
In December 1927 he signed an agreement with members of the du Pont family to build a factory at New Castle, Delaware. Bellanca aircraft demonstrated their superiority during the early 1930's in a series of long-distance flights, the most notable occurring in October 1931, when Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon flew nonstop across the Pacific from Tokyo, Japan, to Wenatchee, Wash. The 1930's marked a revolution in aircraft design. The future lay with multiengine, all-metal machines of monocoque (single-shell) construction, like the Douglas DC-3. Bellanca, however, clung to his basic design concepts of the 1920's. Between 1930 and 1950 he produced several successful single-engine aircraft, especially the Cruisair series, that were noted for their efficiency, reliability, and safety. But the Bellanca company never became a major aircraft manufacturer. In 1955, Bellanca retired to his home in Galena, Maryland, where he devoted his last years to designing aircraft of fiberglass construction. He died in New York City.
Giuseppe Bellanca was a profound aeronautical engineer and designer of the 20th century who produced successful single-engine aircraft, that were noted for their efficiency, reliability, and safety. Bellanca started his career with opening of a flying school at Garden City, New York, in 1914. His most famous student was Fiorello La Guardia. Then he founded the Columbia Aircraft Company in partnership with Charles A. Levine in 1926. The next year he formed a new company, The Bellanca Aircraft Corporation of America, in a financial partnership with the DuPont Family. Bellanca also headed the aviation department at Higgins Industries, Inc. since 1941 and he formed the Bellanca Development Company in 1954. Bellanca's most successful models of airplanes were: the Wright-Bellanca (W-B) I and II; the Cruisair series; the CF. The latter aircraft won thirteen prizes for performance and efficiency at air meets during the summer of 1922, and Bellanca was nominated for the prestigious Collier Trophy. Bellanca also created the first enclosed-cabin monoplane in the United States in 1922.
Quotes from others about the person
As noted by the New York Herald-Tribune at the time of Bellanca's death, "Most of Mr. Bellanca's friends saw him as an artist, indeed as a genius, though they deplored his lack of business acumen. "
While in Omaha, Bellanca married Dorothy M. Brown on November 18, 1922. They had one son.
