G.J. Alaback

WHEN IT WAS introduced in the spring of 1930, the Bellanca Skyrocket represented the latest and most powerful version of an already-famous airplane. The design traced its origin back five years to a record-breaking prototype. In 1925 Giuseppe M. Bellanca had designed and built a high-wing cabin monoplane for the Wright Aeronautical Corporation. Wright commissioned the design to show off their new Model J4 engine of 200 horsepower. This plane, known as the Wright-Bellanca WB-1, was destroyed in a downwind landing attempt late in 1925. A second airplane of this design was built in 1926. The landing gear was simplified, and the engine was the latest Wright air-cooled radial, the 220-horsepower Model J5. This was the Wright-Bellanca WB-2. It was later named the Bellanca Columbia.