ONLY -- Airworthy Bellanca Air Cruiser in the World
N 44° 40.209 W 121° 08.981
10T E 646668 N 4947974
This pre-WWII vintage aircraft has the distinction of being the only airworthy Air Cruiser and is housed at the Erickson Aircraft Collection located at the Madras Airport.
Waymark Code: WMPCC8
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 08/08/2015
Views: 2
The
Erickson Aircraft Collection relocated approximately 20 aircraft to the Madras Airport in 2014. This collection of mostly WWII vintage planes were previously housed in a military hanger at the Tillamook Air Museum (NW coastal town in Oregon).
The following verbiage is taken from the Erickson Aircraft Collection website to describe its history:
PT-17 Stearman
NARRATIVE
Built by the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation in New Castle, Delaware in 1938 as a modification of the Airbus, the Aircruiser was considered by many pilots to be the most efficient single engine airplane ever built. It was originally intended for commercial airline passenger service, but because of regulations that prohibited the use of single-engine transports in such service, it was forced to spend its life in the bush country where it soon made a name for itself. The long and spacious cabin has room for fifteen passengers and when the seats are removed, enough floor space to carry over two tons of cargo. It is one of the few aircraft that can carry its own weight in cargo, because of its large lower stub-wings and the large airfoil wing struts. Every square foot of airframe is devoted to some useful purpose. Even the stub-wings, which assist with lift and are strong anchoring points for the landing gear, have storage area for baggage and cargo.
SPECIFIC HISTORY
The museum’s airworthy Aircruiser was custom built in 1938 by Bellanca for the Elizade Company at a cost of $56,000 and sent to the Philippines to support a gold mining operation. In 1940 it was sold and pressed into bush service in Canada. Following a crash landing, it was restored in 1944 and continued in this service until 1968 when it ran aground while taking off fully loaded with fish. In 1972 it was rescued and restored to flying condition. The museum bought the aircraft in 1990 and keeps it in flying condition, the only Aircruiser still flying.
Each aircraft contains its own interpretive display and I've included a picture of it which contains additional info on this aircraft, including the superlative mention (bottom right corner).
This collection is definitely worth the visit for any aircraft enthusiast.