The Bellanca TES, short for Tandem Experimental Sesquiplane and also known as the Blue Streak, was a one-off push-pull aircraft designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca in 1929 for an attempt at the first non-stop flight from Seattle to Tokyo. A sesquiplane has a main wing and a much smaller second wing, and the TES carried its engines in tandem, one pulling at the front and one pushing at the rear. The specifications the source gives for the original layout list two Pratt and Whitney R-1340 Wasp nine-cylinder radial piston engines, a crew of two, a wingspan of 25.35 metres and an empty weight of 3,171 kilograms. In 1930 it was refitted with two 600 horsepower Curtiss Conqueror engines and strengthened for the Chicago Daily News, which used it as a cargo plane named The Blue Streak. The aircraft crashed on 26 May 1931 when the rear propeller driveshaft broke from vibration, and all four people on board were killed.
Facts
Engine Class Top Speed (km/h) Maximum Mass (kg) Comparison
Body StyleAircraft (no road body style) 1 Connections
Exemplifies
Source Bellanca TES (Wikipedia)
Of Make
Source Bellanca TES (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Bellanca TES (Wikipedia)
Lead, design year
The Bellanca TES (Tandem Experimental Sesquiplane) or Blue Streak was a push-pull sesquiplane aircraft designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca in 1929 for the first non-stop flight from Seattle to Tokyo.
Lead, aircraft type
was a push-pull sesquiplane aircraft designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca in 1929
Specifications, powerplant
9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines
Lead, fate
The aircraft crashed on 26 May, 1931 when the rear propeller driveshaft broke due to vibration and all four on board lost their lives.
Specifications, empty weight
Empty weight: 6,990 lb (3,171 kg)
Specifications, takeoff weight
Max takeoff weight: 20,935 lb (9,496 kg)
Specifications, maximum speed
Maximum speed: 149 mph (240 km/h, 129 kn)
Of Make: Bellanca, Lead, make
The Bellanca TES (Tandem Experimental Sesquiplane) or Blue Streak was a push-pull sesquiplane aircraft designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca in 1929 for the first non-stop flight from Seattle to Tokyo.
Exemplifies: Aviation, Lead, mode
The Bellanca TES (Tandem Experimental Sesquiplane) or Blue Streak was a push-pull sesquiplane aircraft designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca in 1929 for the first non-stop flight from Seattle to Tokyo.
In Group: Early Commercial Airliners and Transports, Lead, cargo plane role
reinforced for the Chicago Daily News as a cargo plane named The Blue Streak
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