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- Thread starter mtaylor
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Jonathan Baron
New member
A simple tail number database search says your -3 was built in 1960. You can contact the feds for all the records they have for your "new" triple tail: changes in ownership, paperwork, and such. Naturally I take it that the original logs are lost?
Congratulations, Micheal
Jonathan
Congratulations, Micheal
Jonathan
Gary Brink
New member
Your airplane was built in Alexandria, MN. Bellanca moved to Alex in the 1950s and actually started producing airplanes in 1957. They used to build a lot of them...the old timers that worked there tell me that they rolled a new airplane off of the assembly line every four hours. The old wing plant closed years ago and it is a much smaller operation in a single building, but they will still build a new Viking or do a little repair work. 8)
Jonathan Baron
New member
Yep, Gary, the 14-19 was the last of the Bellancas built by G.M.'s company in New Castle, Delaware. They went out of business in 1951 due to a combination of poor sales and the Korean War. The TC and other assets were sold in 1956 to a fellow named Downer (an unfortunate name for an aviation business) who moved production to Alexandria MN. August Bellanca, G.M.'s son, held onto the rights for the Cruiseair, plus he was planning to revive the Bellanca name through his Avia Bellanca company that eventually produced a modern day version of the Skyrocket with advanced materials. Alas, he never received enough funding to carry on.
Meanwhile the Downer Aircraft Company revived the Cruisemaster line, updating the engine and hydraulics, redesigning the cowl to accomodate the O-470 and a constant speed prop, as well as employing fiberglass for the door and panel. The steel doors were a pain, and I've yet to see a 14-19 where the door fit perfectly. Perhaps they were out-sourced...I don't know. The fiberglass doors weren't much better. They usually get sucked out by the slip stream, breaking the seal and creating all sorts of noise and drafts. These were the last complex, high performance, four place tail draggers ever built in the United States.
The records my insurance company has lists my Cruisemaster as a Downer. Although untrue I saw no need to correct them, as they had the year of manufacture and the serial number right.
The -3 Cruisemaster, as you know, was a trike with a fuel-injected O-470 producing 260 horsepower. Many folks refer to the -2 as the Bellanca 230 and the -3 as a Bellanca 260. The -3A had the tail and general overall shape of the Viking: a name a Sicilian would never have chosen, though it made sense in Minnesoda with its large Scandanavian population I'm sure exactly when the Downer name was dropped.
All this aside, Kevin has it right. Your data plate will have the D.O.B. If, as many of us have found, the data plate is missing, give Bellanca a call and they can hunt down the info on your airplane and make you a new data plate. They did this for me.
Jonathan
Meanwhile the Downer Aircraft Company revived the Cruisemaster line, updating the engine and hydraulics, redesigning the cowl to accomodate the O-470 and a constant speed prop, as well as employing fiberglass for the door and panel. The steel doors were a pain, and I've yet to see a 14-19 where the door fit perfectly. Perhaps they were out-sourced...I don't know. The fiberglass doors weren't much better. They usually get sucked out by the slip stream, breaking the seal and creating all sorts of noise and drafts. These were the last complex, high performance, four place tail draggers ever built in the United States.
The records my insurance company has lists my Cruisemaster as a Downer. Although untrue I saw no need to correct them, as they had the year of manufacture and the serial number right.
The -3 Cruisemaster, as you know, was a trike with a fuel-injected O-470 producing 260 horsepower. Many folks refer to the -2 as the Bellanca 230 and the -3 as a Bellanca 260. The -3A had the tail and general overall shape of the Viking: a name a Sicilian would never have chosen, though it made sense in Minnesoda with its large Scandanavian population
I'm sure exactly when the Downer name was dropped.All this aside, Kevin has it right. Your data plate will have the D.O.B. If, as many of us have found, the data plate is missing, give Bellanca a call and they can hunt down the info on your airplane and make you a new data plate. They did this for me.
Jonathan
Jonathan Baron
New member
Small correction: I'm NOT sure when the Downer name was dropped....not that it matters all that much :?
alabamaflyboy
New member
The FAA lists my 14-19 (10th one made by Bellanca at the Bellanca plant in New Castle) as a Downer on their aircraft list. Others both before and after list the manufacturer as Bellanca.
You might check behind the access plate on the left side of the vertical stabilizer. That is where I found my data plate.
Dave
You might check behind the access plate on the left side of the vertical stabilizer. That is where I found my data plate.
Dave
