Photograph from Wide World Photos, taken at Floyd Bennet Field, New York, New York, USA, September 1, 1937
Original photo caption:
Ready For Atlantic Hop
New York, N.Y. - Captain Alexander Papana, 30-year-old Roumanian Air Force ace, with his new, specially designed Bellanca tri-motored monoplane, in which he will take off from Floyd Bennet Field on a non-stop flight, alone, to Paris, and Bucharest, Roumania, this month. The airplane is powered by two Menasco engines (in either wing) and a Fairchild Ranger engine in the nose of the monoplane. Papana will stop at Paris in a tribute to the tenth anniversary of Colonel Lindbergh's flight over the same Great Circle course. The plane was purchased by popular national subscription in Roumania.
(YR-AHA) (
David Gauthier Memorial Collection)
The aircraft was registered in Rumania as YR-AHA and test flown by Papană from the Bellanca Airfield in New Castle, Delaware, USA in 1937. Alex Papană was a superb acrobatic pilot who could put his Jungmeister through any acrobatic maneuver of the day with precision. However, he did not have a history of flying fast, supercharged aircraft with controllable pitch propellers. On his first test flight from Bellanca Airfield, he over-boosted the engines and overshot the runway on landing. Fortunately, the aircraft was not damaged, except for burned-out engines.
(YR-AHA) (
David Gauthier Memorial Collection)
Art Chester was flown in from the Menasco factory, and he overhauled the engines at the Bellanca factory. The incident caused a flap between Bellanca and Papană which caused the latter to cancel the order. Giuseppe Bellanca harbored deep feelings about his aircrafts. If a pilot abused a Bellanca, and Giuseppe heard about it, it was a certainty the pilot would hear from him.
(NX2433)
Giuseppe Bellanca then decided to prepare the aircraft for the 1938 Bendix cross-country air race and reregistered the aircraft in the USA as NX2433. Although off to an excellent start, pilot Frank Cordova was forced to land in Cleveland, Ohio with a burnt-out Menasco. The engine was so badly damaged it had to be removed from the aircraft and weights installed to balance the aircraft. Cordon flew the aircraft back to Delaware on the two remaining engines for repair.
By 1939, the aircraft was ready for another attempt at winning the coveted Bendix cross-country event. Art Bussy piloted the Bellanca racer to a second place victory behind a new military Seversky fighter. The Seversky was the first in a series of military fighters which would evolve into the mighty P-47 Thunderbolt used in WWII. Bussy flew from Los Angeles, California to Cleveland in 8 hours and 21 minutes averaging 244.486 mph (393.4621 kmh). After refueling in Cleveland, Bussy flew on to New York, New York, to finish. Second place prize money was a mere $5,800, which barely paid the operating costs for the race.
After this historic flight, the Bellanca racer was stored in a hangar on Bellanca Airfield and never raced again. It was reported in a 1968 issue of Sport Flying that the aircraft was sold to the Argentine Government. This is the only information uncovered concerning the fate of this remarkable aircraft.
