Bellanca Skyrocket

The Bellanca J-300 Special was a special version of a long-range passenger and transport aircraft known in the States.
In Poland.
Stanisław Hausner (from the Rzeszów region), who lived in the USA, after obtaining flight training, decided to fly across the North Atlantic to Poland. For this purpose, he purchased a Bellanca J-300 aircraft with registration number NR 7085. On 28.05.1932, Hausner took off from Newark Airport in New Jersey for a flight to Poland. Thunderstorms, low cloud cover and uneven engine operation forced the pilot to turn back from the Atlantic after three hours of flight. He returned to the airport from which he had taken off. On 3.06.1932, Hausner took off from Floyd Bennett Airport near New York, again for a flight to Warsaw. He took a route via Newfoundland, Ireland and London to Warsaw. For a week there was no information about the fate of the pilot, who was considered missing. In the meantime, after 29 hours and 29 minutes of flight, Hausner had to ditch on June 4 at noon due to lack of fuel, which had leaked from a damaged tank. The empty tanks kept the plane afloat. Passing ships (and there were as many as 19 of them) did not notice the plane, and the days passed. The pilot had only a few sandwiches and some water to drink with him. It was not until June 10 that the tanker Circe Shell fished out the almost unconscious pilot between the Azores and Europe. Thanks to his fortitude and great endurance, the pilot survived almost a week at sea. After regaining his strength, he began to prepare for another attempt, but it did not happen, as he died in a plane crash. The Bellanca was the first plane delivered to Poland directly from America via a flight across the Atlantic. Two emigrants of Polish origin, Bolesław and Józef Adamowicz, decided to fly to Poland in their own Bellanca J-300 Special plane. The aircraft purchased in 1933 with the factory number 3003 had the US registration marks: NR797W and the name "City of Warsaw". The first attempt undertaken in August 1933 ended in failure. The second attempt undertaken a year later was successful. The take-off took place on 29.06.1934 at 5:00 from Harbour Grace (Newfoundland), and after 20 hours of flight, the landing in Fleurs d'Orne in Normandy. The pilots reached Toruń, and then Warsaw, on 2.07.1934. The Adamowicz brothers returned to the United States. The aircraft remained in Poland. It was bought by LOPP. Until 1937, it served in the Staff Training Squadron at 1 PL for propaganda flights. In 1937, the Bellanca was rebuilt into a transport aircraft for transporting parachutists. In 1938 it received the SP-BPG markings. The aircraft was stationed in 1 PL and served centers where parachute courses were organized. After 1 September 1939 it performed transport flights. On 7 September the aircraft was fired upon from the ground by anti-aircraft defense and made a forced landing near Brest. Unable to fly, it fell into the hands of the Germans. During the war it was used on the Eastern Front in the Romanian Air Force.

Construction:
A two-seater, high-wing, strut monoplane of mixed construction. Later rebuilt into a transport monoplane for transporting 6 parachutists.
Wooden, two-spar wing, covered with fabric.
Fuselage welded from steel pipes.
Engine - Wright "Whirlwind" J5 with a power of 162 kW (220 hp). Two-blade propeller. The fuel tanks for the flight had a total capacity of 1627 l, after the reconstruction 160 l.
Technical data of the J-300 (according to [1]):
Span - 15.4 m; length - 8.5 m; height - 2.6 m; bearing area - 25.2 m2.
Empty weight - 840 kg, useful weight - 840 (1600) kg, total - 1680 (2440) kg.
Performance of the rally version: maximum speed - 209 km /h; cruising speed - 177 km /h; minimum speed - 70 km /h, ceiling - 4700 m, range - 6200 km.

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I saw an antique yesterday and ran the N number as soon as I got home. The FAA has it registered as a 1929 Bellanca Pacemaker with a P&W R-985. This plane is not shown in the Virtual Museum. Should be.

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My Grandmother's Cousin, Clyde Pangborn, flew a Bellanca CH-300 Called "Miss Veedol" with a 425hp, P&H 985, NR796W around the world and was First to cross the Pacific ocean in "Miss Veedol" Oct 3-5, 1931. He flew from Misawa Japan to Wenatchee Washington in 41 hours an 13 minutes. The plane rated at 5500 pounds Gross left Sabasura Beach near Misawa weighing over 9000 pounds. Pangborn dropped the landing gear in the ocean upon leaving Japan and landed on the belly in Wenatchee. From 1997 to 2005, the EAA in Wenatchee built a replica with the same number NR796W(the original "Miss Veedol" was lost in the Atlantic sometime after the round the world flight). Google "Clyde Pangborn" + "Miss Veedol" for more information.

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I flew the Skyrocket out of Selkirk Manitoba Canada. We had 3 of them and I believe they were the last 3 flying commercially. This was in 1970. We flew them on floats and skis and they were a great aircraft. There was no door on the pilot side so one had to either go to the back door or climb through the side window. All three of our aircraft were lost the same way. The gear on the aircraft was very narrow and the rudder was to small so when on skis the aircraft had a tendency to ground loop easily and the side loading on the gear would cause it to collapse. Then the second problem kicked in and that was a belly fuel tank which would then ignite and the aircraft would burn up. On floats it rivaled the Norseman for a load but it was faster.

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This airplane has got another engine version Bellanca J-6-9 model which had a 300-horsepower 9-cylinder Wright Cyclone engine. It cross over Atlantic from New York to Istanbul non-stop world record in 1931

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