The Columbia Aircraft Corporation was a United States aircraft manufacturer, which was active between 1927 and 1947.
Formation and operations
Columbia Aircraft was founded in December 1927 by Charles A. Levine as chairman and the aircraft designerGiuseppe Mario Bellanca as president. The initial name used was Columbia Air Liners Inc. The aircraft factory was established at Hempstead, New York. Levine hired pilots Bert Acosta, Eroll Boyd, John Wycliff Isemann, Burr Leyson, and Roger Q. Williams at $200 a week to perform a series of publicity record attempts for the company. The most ambitious project for the company was the "Uncle Sam". Main participant were John Carisi as motor expert, Edmond Chagniard,french designer and airplane constructor, and Alexander Kartveloff as technical engineer from georgia. The $250,000 prototype was brought to market at the height of the depression. It was sold at auction for $3000 to pay back hangar rent. The "Uncle Sam" and two other Triads was destroyed shortly afterward in a Roosevelt Field hangar fire where 20 other aircraft were spared. By 1941, the firm's title was Columbia Aircraft Corporation and the factory was located at Valley Stream, Long Island. near Tucson, Arizona, in February 1993 From 1941, Columbia worked closely with Grumman Aircraft, undertaking the development and production of that company's military amphibian aircraft designs including the J2F Duck and the Columbia JL. The chief test pilot for the amphibians was noted aviator Lieutenant Johnny Miller. After the completion of wartime contracts for the United States Navy, the firm's operations reduced in scale and Columbia was acquired by Commonwealth Aircraft circa 1948.
Aircraft
Wright-Bellanca WB-2 Columbia: The sole example built in 1926 and bought from Wright Aeronautical, The Columbia was a multiple world record holding aircraft designed by Bellanca that was originally considered for use by Charles Lindberg in his transatlantic flight of 1927. Bellanca took the rights to the aircraft when he left the company, making the CH series of aircraft based on the design.
Flying wing project to connect new york to London. Develop by french engineer E.Chagniard and georgian A.Kartvely, it was suppose to be produce in France but Levine hire them in 1927 at his long island factory. Plane should have carried 4500 gallons of gasoline with an average peed of 200km/h. The 7 motors were expected to deliver 5600hp and use only 4000hp. 3 motors were sufficient for keeping the plane in the air.Plane was expected to weight 41.5t for 60 meters width
Single-seat open cockpit high-wing monoplane: Unnamed design powered by a 40 h.p. Salmson engine, 1 built in 1929.
CAL-1 Triad: Six passenger closed cabin high-wing monoplane. Powered by a 220 h.p. Wright J-5. Span 40 ft. Length 33 ft. Convertible to amphibian or seaplane. 2 built in 1929. Both destroyed in a factory fire in January 1931.
Uncle Sam: Closed cockpit high-wing monoplane with a 450 h.p. Packard 2A engine. Span 60 ft with 1400 gallon gas tanks. Single development aircraft for a planned 50-passenger transoceanic transport and expected to fly over 9650km. Test flown in 1930 using water ballast in long range tanks, logging twelve flights but found to be under-powered. Destroyed January 1931 hangar fire with engine and instruments removed.
Grumman J2F-6 Duck: Single-engine amphibian biplane for the U.S. Navy. 330 built under sub-contract to Grumman Aircraft in 1941/42.
Columbia JL: Single-engine monoplane amphibian for the U.S. Navy. 3 built in 1946, 1 being used in destructive static tests.
