Bellanca, Giuseppe Mario

Giuseppe Mario Bellanca, (born March 19, 1886, Sciacca, Italy—died Dec. 26, 1960, New York, N.Y., U.S.), airplane designer and builder who created the first monoplane in the United States with an enclosed cabin.

Bellanca graduated with an engineering degree from the Milan Polytechnic and in 1911 came to the United States, where he thought the future was bright for aircraft design. He had experimented unsuccessfully with design and construction in his student days, but he built and learned to fly his first plane on Long Island, New York, where he had a flying school from 1912 through 1916. In 1917 he designed and built the first enclosed-cabin monoplane, which succeeded in air races. After World War I the premier flying circus pilot Clarence D. Chamberlin commissioned a plane from him and remained his friend, getting him a job at the Wright Aircraft Corporation (1924–26). In 1927 Chamberlin flew a Bellanca plane on the first transatlantic flight with a passenger to set a new long-distance record, from New York City to Eisleben, Ger. Bellanca planes were favourites of long-distance flyers in the late 1920s and early 1930s. (A Bellanca had been Charles A. Lindbergh’s first choice.) In 1931 a Bellanca plane made the first Japan-to-U.S. nonstop flight.

The Bellanca Aircraft Company (1927–54) specialized in making executive private planes. Bellanca became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1929. After selling his company in 1954, he remained active in design and construction with Bellanca Aircraft Engineering, which he operated with his son.