Many of those pilots would be interested in pleasure flying. There were now numerous large and inexpensive surplus aircraft available (mainly DC-3s) and, in addition, there were now thousands of pilots leaving the military and returning to civilian life. Although GM had always been interested in building large, long-range aircraft, he realized that the market had changed drastically because of WW-II. This plane also illustrates the direction Bellanca took after WW-II. This 1948 Cruiseair Senior is representative of what you will see. The small museum has around a half dozen aircraft, in varying conditions, on display. While there, Columbia was destroyed in a fire- a piece of history lost forever. That building now houses the Bellanca Airfield Museum.Īs a post-script to the WB-2 story, Columbia (which was built in 1926 in New Jersey), arrived at Bellanca Airfield in 1934 to undergo repairs. was formed to undertake a restoration of the building which is on the National Register of Historic sites. By 2003, that building was also in disrepair and Friends of Bellanca Airfield, Inc. The only remaining building is the former Air Service, Inc hangar which was built around 1936. The facility operated from 1928 to 1960 and approximately 3,000 Bellanca aircraft were produced there between 19.Īfter the field closed in 1960, the buildings fell into disrepair and were all eventually taken down. The airfield, which stretched to the Delaware River for seaplane operations, was called Bellanca Field, the first full-service public aviation facility in Delaware. duPont built an airfield, aircraft plant, and service hangar in New Castle, Delaware After establishing a manufacturing facility on Long Island, Bellanca went to Delaware to pursue a partnership with the DuPont family, who were interested in getting into aviation. įollowing the Columbia flight, Bellanca parted ways with Charles Levine and explored other opportunities. The story of the flight of the Columbia is just as dramatic as that of The Spirit of St. On June 4, Chamberlin prepared to depart and, literally at the last moment, Levine himself hopped in the plane, becoming the first trans-Atlantic air passenger. With no co-pilot now on the staff, Chamberlin decided to make the flight on his own (perhaps because Lindbergh had flown solo). Replacing “New York- Paris” with “New York- Berlin” on the side of the plane, they set out to beat Lindbergh’s distance record. With the legal problems settled and the Orteig Prize having been claimed by Lindbergh, Levine decided to make the flight anyway. The pair stayed aloft (without refueling) for over 50 hours, easily breaking the previous record and showing that they would have been able to fly to Paris, non-stop. On April 12, Chamberlin took off from Roosevelt field in the WB-2, along with co-pilot Bert Acosta, in an effort to break the air endurance record. Bellanca remained associated with Levine and they hired Chamberlin, a well-known and accomplished pilot to organize the flight. Roosevelt Field had become the hub for aviators hoping to win the prize and Levine set up operations there. The interest in flying across the Atlantic had been spurred by hotel owner Raymond Orteig who, in 1919, had offered a $25,000 prize for the first person to fly from New York to Paris, or vice-versa. There were also many air racing events and attempts at record-breaking flights. In the 1920s, aviation was very popular but it was still mostly limited to barnstormers and their airshows, and air mail flying. After Lindbergh gave up on buying the Bellanca and went to San Diego to the Ryan Aircraft Corporation, the WB-2 was sold to entrepreneur, Charles Levine. Louis had the same engine, a Wright R-790 Whirlwind). The story is complicated, but basically, the Wright-Bellanca company wanted to name the crew for the flight while Lindbergh was determined to fly the Atlantic himself (by this time, the Wright Aircraft Company was specializing in engine building.
The Bellanca had been built specifically for long-range flight and, in fact, Charles Lindbergh had hoped to purchase the WB-2 for his flight. The Columbia (originally named Miss Columbia), was designed and built by Italian immigrant, Giuseppe Mario Bellanca (known as GM Bellanca). Chamberlin made his record setting flight (155 miles longer than Lindbergh’s) in a Wright-Bellanca WB-2.