Vortex Generators
- Thread starter NC86786
- Start date
alabamaflyboy
New member
Wow, I didn't realize that a fatal accident had occurred during testing of the first Junior. No wonder they were so concerned about the spin recovery qualities of the plane. In addition to the time spent in the investigation of the accident and recovering from the loss of their friend and employee, the Bellanca factory probably had to build a second prototype to be able to continue the certification testing. No wonder they were up against the deadline for final certification.
By the way, August also talked about the Lindbergh flight in 1927. Not many people, outside of Bellanca aviation buffs, know that a Bellanca plane was also a contender for the New York to Paris flight. I believe it was the Columbia model, but could be wrong about that. Anyway, Bellanca's financier at the time wound up promising the use of the plane to two different competing groups. In fact, Lindbergh had earlier approached the Bellanca people as his first choice for a plane, but the financier had turned him down. Lindbergh then went out to Ryan and had them build the Spirit of St. Louis.
Anyway, both competing groups had filed restraining orders against each other to prevent the other guy from using the plane for the record flight. The plane was in a hangar at Roosevelt Field, all ready to go as soon as the fuel tanks could be filled, waiting for the legal hassles to be worked out. When Lindbergh landed at Roosevelt Field with the Spirit, GM Bellanca got the litigating parties together and basically told them that Lindbergh would probably take off as soon as the weather looked good and that they needed to settle the dispute if they wanted to beat him.
August said that his dad told him that the negotiations went on until after 1 AM with no progress, so everyone went home. When they woke up the next morning, the radio was full of the news that Lindbergh had taken off and was enroute to Paris. The rest is history.
About one month later, the Bellanca plane with Clarance Chamberlain as the pilot, flew non-stop from Roosevelt Field to Berlin, which, I think, is about 1000 NM farther than Lindbergh's flight, but never got anything even close to the publicity that Lindbergh had received. Plus it was not a solo flight.
Disclaimer: This is a third hand telling of the story - GM told it August, August told to a group of Bellanca enthusiasts, and I am passing it along to you. Lots of chances for faulty memories or embellishments in that chain.
Dave York
By the way, August also talked about the Lindbergh flight in 1927. Not many people, outside of Bellanca aviation buffs, know that a Bellanca plane was also a contender for the New York to Paris flight. I believe it was the Columbia model, but could be wrong about that. Anyway, Bellanca's financier at the time wound up promising the use of the plane to two different competing groups. In fact, Lindbergh had earlier approached the Bellanca people as his first choice for a plane, but the financier had turned him down. Lindbergh then went out to Ryan and had them build the Spirit of St. Louis.
Anyway, both competing groups had filed restraining orders against each other to prevent the other guy from using the plane for the record flight. The plane was in a hangar at Roosevelt Field, all ready to go as soon as the fuel tanks could be filled, waiting for the legal hassles to be worked out. When Lindbergh landed at Roosevelt Field with the Spirit, GM Bellanca got the litigating parties together and basically told them that Lindbergh would probably take off as soon as the weather looked good and that they needed to settle the dispute if they wanted to beat him.
August said that his dad told him that the negotiations went on until after 1 AM with no progress, so everyone went home. When they woke up the next morning, the radio was full of the news that Lindbergh had taken off and was enroute to Paris. The rest is history.
About one month later, the Bellanca plane with Clarance Chamberlain as the pilot, flew non-stop from Roosevelt Field to Berlin, which, I think, is about 1000 NM farther than Lindbergh's flight, but never got anything even close to the publicity that Lindbergh had received. Plus it was not a solo flight.
Disclaimer: This is a third hand telling of the story - GM told it August, August told to a group of Bellanca enthusiasts, and I am passing it along to you. Lots of chances for faulty memories or embellishments in that chain.
Dave York
Dan Cullman
New member
It was Charles Levine that screwed up the whole situation. No one could work with him.........but he owned the airplane.
alabamaflyboy
New member
I have often wondered how the history of the Bellanca company would have been different if they could only have found decent financial people to work with.
So many of their "coulda been a contenda" moments seem to have been messed up by their current financial guy. Bellanca's designs always seemed to be at least a step and a half ahead of the competition, but they never seemed to be able to turn that engineering advantage into financial success.
Even the last Bellanca design, August's Skyrocket II, was an advanced composite airplane which was developed before composite designs became commonplace. Now days, composite planes are everywhere, but August's design was well ahead of its time. Unfortunately, he was never able to get financing for the plane with terms that were acceptable to him. I think he may have been wary of giving too much control to the financial guys, based on the family's past history.
Dave York
So many of their "coulda been a contenda" moments seem to have been messed up by their current financial guy. Bellanca's designs always seemed to be at least a step and a half ahead of the competition, but they never seemed to be able to turn that engineering advantage into financial success.
Even the last Bellanca design, August's Skyrocket II, was an advanced composite airplane which was developed before composite designs became commonplace. Now days, composite planes are everywhere, but August's design was well ahead of its time. Unfortunately, he was never able to get financing for the plane with terms that were acceptable to him. I think he may have been wary of giving too much control to the financial guys, based on the family's past history.
Dave York