Bellanca 28-92

The Bellanca 28-92 Trimotor was a racing aircraft built to compete in the Istres-Damascus-Paris Air Race of 1937, paid for by popular subscription in Romania. Christened Alba Iulia and registered YR-AHA, it was flown by Captain Alexander Papana of the Romanian Air Force. It was a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a fuselage like that of the 28-70 and 28-90, but with three engines: a 420 horsepower Ranger SGV-770 inverted V-12 in the nose and a 250 horsepower Menasco C6S4 Super Buccaneer inverted six-cylinder engine in each of two underwing nacelles, which also housed the retracting main undercarriage. Its top speed was 285 mph. Re-registered in the United States as NX2433 in 1938, it failed to finish that year's Bendix Trophy race because of engine trouble, placed second in 1939 flown by Arthur Bussy, and was later sold to South America, where it ended its days rotting in a small field in Ecuador.