Frank M. Bellanca Odd Airplanes

hesham

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Hi,

here is a three patents for Mr. Frank M. Bellanca,not related to Giuseppe Mario Bellanca,
and the early two aeroplanes are very similar,and the third is a strange flying boat,but
the weird think is one of his early concept assigned to Miller-Bellanca Airplanes Ltd.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US2140783A
https://patents.google.com/patent/USD106275S
https://patents.google.com/patent/USD108816S
 

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According to the information in this link Frank Merlo Bellanca was born in Sicily and was one of Giuseppe Bellanca's brothers.
Frank Merlo Bellanca

Yes, Francesco Merlo Bellanca (1877-1967) was the 'piccolo fratellino'. Giuseppe had been born a decade before Frank, eldest brother Augusto six years before that. Merlo was their mother's maiden name.

According to The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, Frank Bellanca was better-known as a labour leader and businessman. Like Augusto (1880-1969), Frank was also an active socialist, using his editor's position at the ACWU weekly newspaper Il Lavoro to push back against Mussolini's propaganda aimed at Italian-Americans. Frank then founded Il Nuovo Mondo - a daily anti-Fascist newspaper which was published from Nov 1925 to Nov 1931.

In aviation, Franks owned International Aircraft Trading Company of NYC. I.A.T.C. was involved in trying to transfer Seversky aircraft (EP1, AP-7, and SEV-S2) to Ecuador but this was thwarted by the US government confiscating guns. In January 1941, Frank announced that he would build a $2M aircraft plant in Mexico City with another to follow in New Bedford, MA. I haven't been able to find out any more about that plan.
 
It might be worth noting that Francesco "Frank" Bellanca had been involved in the airplane industry for quite some time. He had helped his brother, Giuseppe Mario Bellanca, between 1911 and 1916, for example. By then, he was helping another of his brothers, Augusto Bellanca, one of the founders of a politically progressive union, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. "Frank" Bellanca returned to the aviation industry in 1926. He played a role in Bellanca Aircraft pretty much from day one.

Between the fall of 1937 and the spring of 1938, "Frank" Bellanca considered the possibility of moving to Canada, possibly to Montreal, Quebec, to set up a factory that would supply the British and French air forces. Mind you, Toronto and Windsor, Ontario, were other possible locations. Windsor was deemed to be especially convenient, located at is was very close to the Canada-US border.

The airplane Bellanca seemingly considered producing first was a twin fuselage bomber whose two engines were mounted in tandem in a central nacelle. He also hoped to produce a single seat fighter, some sort of torpedo bomber / coast patrol aircraft and several other unknown types. The factory project soon came to naught.

The gentleman by the name of Miller who was involved in the founding, at least on paper, of the Canadian company Miller-Bellanca Aircraft of Montreal, around March-April 1938, was seemingly the American race car designer and builder Harold Arminius "Harry" Miller, a gentleman described as one of the greatest minds in the history of American automobile racing.

Miller was the brains behind the 1,000 hp (vee type?) liquid-cooled engines which were to power the bomber and fighter. He might also have designed other engines for the unknown types of aircraft. Whether or not any engine was actually put together is very much unclear.

By 1940, "Frank" Bellanca was proposing the production of an odd looking motor torpedo boat capable of exceeding 80 knots. (Please see photo) He looked at potential factory sites in Mobile, Alabama, and Biloxi, Mississippi. As well, Bellanca also considered the possibility of setting up an aircraft factory in Brownsville, Texas. Those project soon came to naught as well. By early 1941, the chosen site for the production of both aircraft and motor torpedo boats was New Bedford, Massachusetts. That project also came to naught.
 

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… The gentleman by the name of Miller who was involved in the founding, at least on paper, of the Canadian company Miller-Bellanca Aircraft of Montreal, around March-April 1938, was seemingly the American race car designer and builder Harold Arminius "Harry" Miller, a gentleman described as one of the greatest minds in the history of American automobile racing.

Miller was the brains behind the 1,000 hp ….
Harry Miller also proposed to build a 2,000 hp., 1200 cubic inch, V-shaped engine for Tucker’s proposed XP-57 fighter plane during WW2. Tucker never built a single prototype XP-57.
Miller was optimistic in an era when leading engine manufacturers were struggling to produce 1hp per 1ci.
 
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optimistic in an era when leading engine manufacturers were struggling to produce 1hp per 1cc
1000 cc ~ 60 cubic inches.
Manufacturers would struggle today to produce 1000 hp from 1000 cc. The current Suzuki GSX-R1000 produces 203 hp from a naturally aspirated 999 cc block. The engine that powers the F1 Red Bull RB19 produces 1020 hp from a turbocharged 1600 cc block.
 
…. By 1940, "Frank" Bellanca was proposing the production of an odd looking motor torpedo boat capable of exceeding 80 knots. (Please see photo) He looked at potential factory sites in Mobile, Alabama, and Biloxi, Mississippi. As well, Bellanca also considered the possibility of setting up an aircraft factory in Brownsville, Texas. Those project soon came to naught as well. By early 1941, the chosen site for the production of both aircraft and motor torpedo boats was New Bedford, Massachusetts. That project also came to naught.
This configuration pre-shadows modern SWATH fast ferries.
 
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