Bellanca TES
Bellanca TES with Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines.
The Bellanca TES (Tandem Experimental Sesquiplane) was an experimental aircraft constructed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca. Aircraft registration was NR855E.
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca (left), pilot Shirley J. Short, and J. L. Houghteling (right) in front of the TES aircraft.
The view into the cockpit.
Aircraft was originally built in 1929 for the price of $25,000 for the first non-stop flight from Seattle to Tokyo.[1] In 1930 was refitted with two 600 hp Curtiss Conqueror engines and overbuilded for the Chicago Daily News as a cargo plane named The Blue Streak.
The aircraft crashed on 1931-05-26, when rear propeller drive shaft was broken due the vibration. All crew (Shirley J. Short - the pilot, Richard K. Peck - the copilot, Louis Rice - the radio operator, Robert W. Gormley - a mechanic) perished.
Specifications (with Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines)
Data from [2]
General characteristics
- Crew: 4
- Length: 44 ft 2 in / fuselage 25 ft 0 in (13,46 m / fuselage 7,62 m)
- Wingspan: 83 ft 2 in (25,35 m)
- Height: ()
- Wing area: ft (85 m²)
- Empty weight: 6,990 lb (3,170 kg)
- Max. takeoff weight: 20,945 lb (9,500 kg)
- Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp, 425 hp (317 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 149 mph (240 km/h)
- Range: 3,100 - 9,300 mi (5000 - 15000 km)
- Endurance: up to 100 hours
References
- ↑ Bellanca's Secret, Time, 1929-05-06
- ↑ Letec magazine, volume V, issue 11, page 582-583, November 1929, in Czech
Bibliography
- Alan Abel and Drina Welch Abel: Bellanca's Golden Age, Stockton : Wild Canyon Books, 2004, ISBN 1-891118-46-3
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bellanca TES. |
- Page dedicated to Shirley J. Short
- Bellanca TES images from the archive of San Diego Air & Space Museum
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