Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker

The Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker was a six-seat utility aircraft, built primarily in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a development of the Bellanca CH-200, fitted with a more powerful engine and, like the CH-200, soon became renowned for its long-distance endurance.

CH-300 Pacemaker
Bellanca CH-300 CF-ATN Pacemaker Canada Aviation Museum
Role Civil utility aircraft
Manufacturer Bellanca
First flight 1929
Number built approximately 35
Developed from Bellanca CH-200
Variants Bellanca CH-400

Design and development

Bellanca further developed the earlier CH-200 to create the CH-300 Pacemaker. The CH-300 was a conventional, high-wing braced monoplane with fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Like other Bellanca aircraft of the period, it featured "flying struts".[N 1] While the CH-200 was powered by 220 hp Wright J-5 engines, the CH-300 series Pacemakers were powered by 300 hp Wright J-6s. Late in the series, some -300s were fitted with 420 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasps, leading to the CH-400 Skyrocket series.

Operational history

Hawaiian Airlines restored their first Bellanca, NC-251M, seen flying over Honolulu International Airport

Pacemakers were renowned for their long-distance capabilities as well as reliability and weight-lifting attributes, which contributed to their successful operation throughout the world. In 1929, George Haldeman completed the first nonstop flight from New York to Cuba in 12 hours, 56 minutes, flying an early CH-300 (c. 1,310 miles, 101.3 mph). In 1931, a Bellanca fitted with a Packard DR-980 diesel, piloted by Walter Lees and Frederick Brossy, set a record for staying aloft for 84 hours and 33 minutes without being refuelled. This record was not broken until 55 years later.

In Alaska and the Canadian bush, Bellancas were very popular. Canadian-operated Bellancas were initially imported from the United States, but later, six were built by Canadian Vickers in Montreal and delivered to the RCAF (added to the first order of 29 made in 1929), which used them mainly for aerial photography.

In May 1964, Capt. A.G.K.(Gath) Edward, a senior Air Canada pilot, and Ken Molson (the then curator of the Aviation Museum of Canada based at Rockcliffe) traveled to Juneau Alaska to ferry Bellanca Pacemaker NC3005 back to the museum which had obtained the aircraft. Edward had flown a similar model of the Pacemaker floatplane for General Airways starting in June 1935 during his bushflying days. He and Molson delivered it to its final resting place in the museum on May 30, 1964, after a trip taking five days and just over 30 hours of flight time. The aircraft was reregistered CF-ATN as the original registered a/c was destroyed in an accident in June 1938.

Record attempts

One of the first records set by a Bellanca CH-300 series aircraft occurred on July 28–30, 1931, when Russell Norton Boardman (age 33) and John Louis Polando (age 29) flew from Floyd Bennett Field — a famous New York City-area early airport on western Long Island from which many record flights originated — to Istanbul, Turkey aboard an earlier model of the Wright R-975-powered CH-300, a Bellanca "Special J-300" high-wing monoplane named Cape Cod, registration NR761W, making it safely to Istanbul nonstop in 49:20 hours, establishing a distance record of 5,011.8 miles (8,065.7 km), the first known nonstop record flight in aviation history whose distance surpassed either the English (5,000 mi) or metric (8,000 km) mark.[1]

On June 3, 1932, Stanislaus F. Hausner, flying a Bellanca CH Pacemaker named Rose Marie, powered by a 300-hp Wright J-6, attempted a transatlantic flight from Floyd Bennett Field, New York, to Warsaw, Poland. The attempt failed when he made a forced landing at sea; he was rescued by a British tanker eight days later.[2]

Bellanca CH-300, "Lituanica", on the reverse of 10 litas banknote

On July 15, 1933 6:24 AM two Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius ir Stasys Girėnas flying a heavily modified CH-300 named Lituanica lifted off from Floyd Bennet Field to attempt a non stop transatlantic flight. They successfully crossed the Atlantic, however crashed in the forest near Pszczelnik, Poland. Flying replica of the plane is on display in Lithuanian museum of Aviation, the wreckage of the original is kept in Vytautas Magnus War museum, Kaunas, Lithuania.

Variants

Operators

 Canada
Austin Airways
Canadian Airways
Royal Canadian Air Force (13)
Starratt Airways
 El Salvador
TACA Airlines
 Mexico
Aeronaves de Mexico
 Norway
Widerøes Flyveselskap
 United States
Civil Aeronautics Authority (5+)
Department Of Commerce
Inter-Island Airways (Hawaiian Airlines)
Star Air Service
Wien Air Alaska

Surviving aircraft

Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker NC688E at EAA AirVenture, Oshkosh in July 2016
Canada
United States

Specifications

Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker 3-view drawing from Aero Digest April,1930

General characteristics

  • Crew: one pilot
  • Capacity: five passengers
  • Length: 27 ft 9 in (8.5 m)
  • Wingspan: 46 ft 4 in (14.1 m)
  • Height: 8 ft 4 in (2.5 m)
  • Empty weight: 2,275 lb (1,032 kg)
  • Gross weight: 4,072 lb (1,847 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Wright J-6 radial , 330 hp (246 kW)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 165 mph (266 km/h, 143 kn)
  • Range: 675 mi (1,086 km, 587 nmi)

See also

Related development

Related lists

References

Notes

  1. The Bellanca wing struts serve not only to brace the wing structure, but are also airfoils that contribute to the lift of the aircraft.

Citations

  1. "'Cape Cod's' Success Climaxes 5 Years [of] Bellanca Records". The Sunday Morning Star, Wilmington, DE. August 2, 1931. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
  2. "The Golden Age of Aviation at Floyd Bennett Field: The 1930s."Gateway National Recreation Area, September 11, 2007. Retrieved: May 16, 2009.
  3. "Bellanca." Aerofiles. Retrieved: December 28, 2009.
  4. "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details [CF-ATN]". Transport Canada. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  5. Dufault, Randy (29 July 2016). "The Only One Flying". EAA. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  6. "Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker". Ingenium. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  7. "Airframe Dossier - Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker, c/n 181, c/r CF-ATN {1}". Aerial Visuals. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  8. "FAA REGISTRY [N33FP]". Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  9. "FAA REGISTRY [N251M]". Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  10. "Hawaiian Air's first plane returns". HonoluluAdvertiser.com. 9 October 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  11. Schiff, Barry (5 May 2011). "ISLAND KING: HAWAIIAN AIRLINES CELEBRATES 80 YEARS". AOPA Pilot. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  12. "CIVILIAN AIRCRAFT". Virginia Aviation Museum. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  13. "Airframe Dossier - Bellanca CH-400, c/n 187, c/r N237". Aerial Visuals. Retrieved 7 July 2020.

Bibliography

  • Szurovy, Geza. Bushplanes. St. Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Press, 2004. ISBN 0-7603-1478-0.
  • Taylor, Michael J.H. Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions, 1989, p. 149.
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