Guiseppe M. Bellanca came to the United States in 1911 with a degree in engineering and little else. By 1927, he had founded Bellanca Aircraft Company, and had already designed aircraft that held the world records for distance and endurance. Bellanca aircraft became well known around the world for their efficiency and utility. The Bellanca Aircraft Company continued to build aircraft from 1927 until 1955. Bellanca designs continued after that, passing through the hands of many companies, some of them carrying on the Bellanca name. But during those many years, very few Bellancas were ever built as military combat aircraft, and only two of those reached production status. Amazingly, both of those designs served in Latin America!
The first of these unusual warbirds began life as a specially designed long-range racer. The Bellanca 28-70 was designed and built for Colonel James Fitzmaurice of Ireland. Fitzmaurice planned to race the 28-70, which he had christened The Irish Swoop, in the 1934 MacRobertson Race from England to Australia. The Irish Swoop arrived in Great Britain barely in time for the race, but Fitzmaurice withdrew after the MacRobertson rules committee limited his fuel load because of incomplete testing of the new aircraft. The 28-70 was returned to the United States to finish its testing, but was badly damaged in a landing accident. In 1936, the aircraft was rebuilt with a more powerful engine and was redesignated the 28-90.
Bellanca designations have proven difficult to understand, but were based on the aircraft's specifications. In this case, the 28 indicated the wing area (280 square feet) and the 70 represented the power (700 horsepower). When the airplane received a 900 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp during its rebuild, its designation naturally had to change as well. The airplane was also renamed The Dorothy and used by James Mollison to achieve a new trans-Atlantic speed record. In 1937, Mollison flew to Madrid, where The Dorothy was sold to the Spanish Republican government, which was desperate for any modern aircraft to help fight their civil war. Legend has it that the Dorothy was lost in combat during a reconnaissance mission (although historians are not truly sure what happened).
Meanwhile, the Spanish Republicans had been impressed with the fast, long-range Bellanca even before the arrival in Madrid of the Dorothy. Late in 1936, they contracted with Bellanca to build twenty 28-90s for delivery in 1937. Because of then-current United States law prohibiting the sale of arms to nations at war, the true buyer of the Bellancas had to be hidden. So, it was said that the aircraft were for Air France as long range mail carriers. The ruse went so far as having Air France insignia and titles painted on. By the time the twenty aircraft were completed, the game was up and export permission was denied. Amazingly, a Chinese Purchasing Commission bought the aircraft for use in their war, and the US government had no objection to that! The twenty aircraft arrived in Hangkow, China later in 1937, where bomb racks were fitted. Most of these Chinese aircraft were destroyed by Japanese air attacks before their first combat mission.
Bellanca got one more order for the 28-90 (which Bellanca had meanwhile named Flash). Twenty-two aircraft were to be built for Greek civil reserve aviation school. But, this export license was again denied because the aircraft were actually headed for Spain again! The Bellancas were eventually shipped to Mexico after an American exporter got permission to sell them to the Mexican government. In fact, the intention was to load them aboard ship in Veracruz for shipment on to Spain. But, before the Bellancas could be loaded aboard ship, the Spanish civil war was over, and the Republican government who had ordered the Bellancas was defeated.
For an entire year, the aircraft sat in their shipping crates in a Veracruz warehouse while negotiations went back and forth between Mexico and Spain. Two of the major negotiators were Colonel Gustavo Leon and the pilot Juan Ignacio Pombo (famous for his Santander - Mexico Atlantic crossing). There are several different versions of exactly how the negotiations went. At any rate, the Bellancas passed into the ownership of the Fuerza Aerea Mexicana (FAM). The airplanes were assembled either in the fall of 1939 or the spring of 1940 (depending on which version of the story is true). Meanwhile, a group of Mexican pilots under the command of Capitan Radames Gaxiola Andrade traveled to the USA for instruction in flying the Bellancas.
The Bellanca 28-90Bs flew with the First Regiment of the FAM at Balbuena only for a short time. One story relates that four mishaps occurred with the Bellancas, all caused by errors of the inexperienced pilots. In reality, at least two accidents occurred: the first one caused by engine failure on landing approach near Lake Texcoco, and the second when Capitan Enrique Ochoa (with TTe Manuel Rock Avalos aboard) confused the flap and landing gear levers during approach, with fatal results. This second documented crash occurred on August 22, 1940, and it was not long after that the Bellancas were grounded.
The Bellancas may have been placed in storage, or they may have been used as instructional airframes for the training of mechanics. In any case, they were bought in 1946 by Babbco, Inc., the Mexican affiliate of Charles E. Babb Company. Babb then attempted to sell the by then very obsolete aircraft to the US Navy as instructional aircraft. Thus ends the curious tale of the Bellanca Flash.
During their Mexican service, photographic evidence shows the Bellancas wearing a very plain paint scheme of olive drab over neutral gray. No photos show any registration numbers or even FAM insignia on the aircraft. Our first illustration shows one of the Bellancas in this plain scheme.
The second illustration shows a Bellanca in very basic (but purely conjectural) FAM insignia: FAM triangle insignia on the wings and tricolored rudder. If anyone has photographic or anecdotal evidence of a different paint and marking scheme for the Bellancas, please send them to the author.
The other Latin American Bellanca warplane was also the only Bellanca designed from the outset as a warplane to reach production status (however limited). This was the Bellanca 77-320 Bomber. The 77-320 was actually designed by Bellanca to fulfill a Colombian requirement for a tough, utilitarian seaplane bomber. The bomber's design was based on that of the successful Airbus/Aircruiser series of Bellanca transports. These single-engine transports was more-or-less the culmination of Guiseppe Bellanca's theory that every surface of the aircraft should, if at all possible, contribute to the production of lift. This meant an airfoil-shaped fuselage and wide, airfoil-section bracing struts. The bomber, though a twin-engine design, inherited these unique identifying features. If you saw one of these bombers once, you never mistook it for anything else in the sky!
Four 77-320s had been ordered by the Colombian Aviacion Militar at the height of the Leticia Conflict with neighboring Peru. The Leticia Conflict was concluded (favorably for the Colombians) on June 25, 1934, but the Bellancas had still not arrived. The prototype had flown in Delaware, USA in 1934, but was destroyed in a hangar fire. The four production 77-320s arrived in Colombia the next year.
The Bellanca 77-320 was a twin-engine, high wing (some would say sesqui-plane, based on the huge lifting struts) bomber. Powered by two 715 horsepower Wright R-1820-F engines, the bomber carried five .30-calibre defensive guns in nose, dorsal, ventral and twin lateral positions. Offensive armament could be a mixture of 100- and 300-pound bombs on stub wing racks and 600- and 1,100-pounders on the fuselage racks, for a total of up to 2,200 pounds. The Bellanca was equally adept at a number of missions other than bombing, including photomapping, troop transport, medical evacuation or freighter. Construction of the bomber was a mix of steel tube covered with fabric or metal panels for the fuselage, tail, and inner wings, with the outer wings and horizontal stabilizer being constructed of wood. The Bellancas, though sturdy and efficient, were quickly overtaken by events. When Lend-Lease equipment began to arrive in Columbia, the Bellancas were retired in 1942.
Photographic evidence shows the Colombian 77-320s operating in a light colored all-over paint scheme, that is probably aluminum dope (although it could easily by white, light gray, cream or some other light shade of paint).
Photos show the Bellancas carrying the complex Colombian roundel on the vertical tail as well as underwing (probably overwing, as well), but with no serial number or other markings. Again, if anyone has more evidence of paint schemes and markings for these aircraft, please forward them to the author.
REFERENCES
- Article "Plane Facts." Air Enthusiast, December 1967.
- Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aircraft Manufacturers, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1993.
- Wagner, Ray. American Combat Planes, Doubleday & Co., New York, NY, 1982.
- Article "The History of the Mexican Air Force," Air International, November, 1981.
- Lazaro, Carlos. "Bellanca 28-90B Flash: Ayuda de Mexico a Espaņa, Envio Frustrado," Avion Revue, No 4, April 2000 (translated from Spanish with much effort by Chuck Acree).
- "History of the Colombian Air Force," Air International, October, 1984.
- Maupin, Fred H. "Weird Warbirds," published in an unknown magazine, and held by the author as a clipping.
Special Thanks to Mario Overall and Andres Huerta for their help in the preparation of this article.
Chuck Acree
LAAHS USA
