How Bellancas Were Promoted in 1959

Rob58

Rob58

Moderator
Came across this sales package – the factory’s response to an inquiry about the 260 Cruisemaster 58 years ago. What I found interesting is the detail contained in the specification sheet – actually contains some information about the aircraft and the systems that are not found in the factory provided owner’s manual.
 
Very interesting. I sure would like to find something like this for the -2. I've looked high and low for the 1958 Color Brochure that was advertised in the flying magazines circa 1958 all to no avail! Of interest, I wonder why they claim in the Specifications under construction everything is covered in Fiberglass? In the Tax Savings is a picture of their demo -2 N9812B. That N# now resides on a C-172 in Franklin PA KFKL. I wonder what happened to their Bellanca demo? Lynn
 
I thought that most, if not all of the -3s wings were covered in fiberglass? I parted out a -3 once and the fabric was heavy enough and stiff enough to have been some sort of fiberglass. I assumed ceconite, but it could have been anything. Interesting add. ____Grant.
 
Lynn, your comments and observations are spot-on. Historical information on the -2 is hard to come by. I think when Downer entered the picture they came out of the gate with a lot more focus on marketing and documentation. I keep looking for anything and everything on the -2 as well as the -3. As for your observation on the use of "Fiberglass" I think I can shed some light on this... back in the '50s they often referred to Dacron (a DuPont trademark) as "Fiberglass" even though this is not technically correct and certainly not what we think of today as fiberglass. Dacron, Ceconite, Poly-fiber are all polyester fabrics - there is really very little difference in the actual fabric compositions. What I am curious about is did the change over from cotton to polyester happen with the first -3 produced, or were some of the -3s still covered with cotton... or maybe some -2s covered with polyester?
 
Hi Larry, I have heard of Razorback but don't know much about it. What gave you the clue about the original fabric? Just like a lot of mysteries regarding the triple-tails I wish we had better access to the engineering records to answer bunches of questions. --Rob
 
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