Bellanca Cruisair
| Bellanca Cruisair | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Model 14-9 | |
| Role | Civil utility aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Bellanca |
| Designer | Giuseppe Mario Bellanca |
| First flight | December 1937 |
| Number built | (pre-WWII ca. 50), (Model 14 post WWII ca.600), (Model 17 1,356) |
The Bellanca 14-7 Cruisair and its successors were a family of single-engined light aircraft manufactured in the United States from the mid-1930s onwards.
Bellanca established itself in the market for 6-8 seat aircraft, but believed that it could also successfully sell smaller 3-4 seat aircraft. To fill this niche Bellanca designed The '14-7 Cruisair' as a modern, low-wing cantilever monoplane with a fuselage intended to contribute lift to the design. Although the prototype flew with fixed tailwheel undercarriage, the 14-9 production version was the first US light aircraft to be mass-produced with retractable undercarriage, the main wheels rotating aft into wheel-wells in the wings, with approximately 50 produced before production was interrupted by World War II.
After WWII Bellanca resumed production with the up-dated Bellanca 14-13 Cruisair Senior, retaining the Bellanca 14-7's basic design, featuring an enlarged cabin, a horizontally opposed Franklin 6A4-335-B3 150 hp (112 kW) engine in place of the earlier models' Le Blond radial and an oval vertical endplate on each horizontal stabiliser. This latter feature gained the type the affectionate nickname "Cardboard Constellation", because the arrangement is similar to the contemporary Lockheed Constellation airliner.
The naming convention for Bellanca aircraft was followed with the Cruisair series, with the first number giving the wing area in square feet, (dropping the final digit), while the second number is the aircraft's horsepower, (again dropping the final digit).
Construction of the series is fairly conventional with wings constructed of spruce with plywood skin and fuselages built up from a welded steel-tube framework with a fabric covering. A constant process of refinement led to many variants, sometimes given new names but retaining the same structure differing only in powerplant, minor details and furnishings. The only major variations were the introduction of a single swept fin and tri-cycle retractable undercarriage. Production was carried out at a variety of companies, including Bellanca, Downer, Aviabellanca, Northern Aircraft and Inter-Air, with little variation other than powerplant and furnishings.
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