Andy Vano, the head engineer of the new group, has a 14-19.
At the Bellanca Club banquet at Oshkosh, right after the new group took over at Alexandria, we spent a while discussing what mods and STCs we would like to see the factory do for the Cruisemaster series.
Stuff like dual brakes, shoulder harnesses, Viking seats, conversion of the 14-19 to the Continental engine used in the -2, etc.
If there is a 14-19 at the factory, it may be Andys.
About 10 or so years ago, they had another A&P employed there named Dave something. He had a 14-19 and did several mods while there - Alternator conversion, dual brakes, and a few other mods.
He also dug through the old drawings and documents and found a lot of drawings that the factory thought was lost.
Prior to that, it was tough getting any 14-19 information from the factory. Since then, it has been a little bit easier.
Way back in the 80s, I visited the factory in Alexandria and talked to several old timers and visited the old wing plant downtown.
According to the old timers that had worked on Bellanca planes forever, the 14-19 had a different wing than the 14-13. The same 14-19 wing jig was still being used for the Viking wings. They told me the only real difference was that the rear spar was beefed up when they moved the gear from the front spar to the rear spar for the trigear models.
The Bellanca fuselage appears to be nearly identical to the Cruisemaster ones as far as dimensions. The trigear models have different tubing under the floor to allow for the nose gear to retract. There is some difference around the door area, and the last 4 or 5 ft. at the tail is different for the large Viking tail and flying strut. The headliner and cabin walls and seats are different, as well.
The 14-19 was a bigger plane all around than the 14-13 series - bigger wing, bigger fuselage. Some of the fuselage and firewall tubing is heavier. Many of the small parts and fittings, however, come straight from the Cruiseair series. Many of the fittings, bolts, pulleys and such are the same from the Cruiseair through the Viking.
My Mar. 1950 Cruisemaster 14-19 (10th one built) has numerous items that are identical to the late model 14-13s that I have examined. Likewise, many Viking parts are identical to those found in my plane, too.
Bellanca has always been a limited production company, and as such, reused the same basic parts and ideas on as many products as they could. Hence, the many similarities across the model lines.
Dave York
