Giuseppe Mario BellancaBorn 19 Mar 1886; died 26 Dec 1960 at age 74.Italian-American aviator who designed and built airplanes, including the first U.S. monoplane with an enclosed cabin (1917). He had a flying school (1912-16) at Long Island, N.Y., where he built and learned to fly his first plane. In 1917, he designed the first enclosed-cabin monoplane, which he flew successfully in air races. The CF airliner he created in 1920 could carry four passengers in an enclosed cabin. It won three major performance contests in 1922. Although regarded as “the world's best airplane,” he couldn't sell them, in a market glutted with surplus WW I airplanes. In 1931, Pangborn and Herdon flew a Bellanca plane on the first Japan-to-U.S. nonstop flight.« |
