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Burnelli CBY-3
The Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster "lifting fuselage" designed by Vincent Burnelli was an evolution of the earlier Burnelli UB-14. Burnelli worked as a designer at Canada Car and Foundry Co. in Montreal and the CBY-3 was built for bush operations in northern Canada. The sole prototype was extensively tested but failed to gain a production contract.
Contents
Design and development
Burnelli had a lifelong career devoted to exploiting the advantages of a lifting body airfoil concept that characterized many of his earlier aircraft designs. His last design, the CBY-3 Loadmaster was manufactured by Canada Car and Foundry (CanCar) in Montreal, but reverted back to Burnelli, when the CBY-3 was unable to gain a production contract. The name of the aircraft, CBY-3, was derived from the name of the three partners involved in its creation: CanCar, Burnelli and Lowell Yerex and “3” from the number of partners involved. Lowell Yerex was a New Zealander who had formed TACA – Transportes Aéreos Centroamericanos (Central American Air Transport) in Honduras in 1931, and joined the project when Burnelli convinced him that the CBY-3 could be used as both a cargo and passenger aircraft.
Operational history
Originally registered "CF-BEL-X" while still in the experimental stage, this one-off, twin-boom, aerofoil-section fuselage, high-lift airliner garnered significant interest from the industry. "CF-BEL-X" underwent rigorous testing and proving flights designed to show off its potential. Despite a trouble-free test program and glowing accolades from the press and industry observers, no production orders resulted and the prototype was later sold in the US as "N17N."
Moving to Southampton, N.Y., Burnelli remained tireless in his determination to promote his airfoil-shaped fuselage transport planes. In 1955, he adapted his final design, the Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster to carry an expedition of 20 passengers and 41 sled dogs, along with their equipment, to the North Pole, but the enterprise was canceled. Until his death in 1964 at the age of 69, Vincent Burnelli championed his "lifting fuselage" designs.
The Loadmaster continued to fly regularly as a commercial airliner both in northern Canada and South America; acquired with design rights by Airlifts Inc. in Miami, Florida, it went to Venezuela, and returned to Burnelli Avionics for refitting with Wright R-2600s, finally ended its flying days at Baltimore's airport in Maryland.
Disposition
In 1964, the quintessential Burnelli "lifting fuselage" air transport was retired to the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, where it sits today, displayed outside, northwest of the B-29 building.
Specifications (CBY-3)
General characteristics
- Crew: two, pilot & co-pilot
- Capacity: 24 passengers
- Length: 53 feet, 11 inches (16.4 m)
- Wingspan: 85 feet, 5.5 inches (26 m)
- Height: 20 feet, 8 inches (6.3 m)
- Wing area: 1,106.9 sq ft (102.83 sq m)
- Empty weight: 16,900 lbs (7,675 kg)
- Loaded weight: 27,000 lbs (12,272 kg)
- Powerplant: 2× Pratt & Whitney Twin-Wasp R-1830 radial engines, 1,200 hp (895 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 237 mph (382 km/h)
- Cruise speed: 170 mph (275 km/h)
- Range: 1,025 mi (1,650 km)
- Service ceiling: 24,000 ft (7,300 m)
References
External links
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| This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Burnelli CBY-3". |
