__NOTOC__

The Bellanca 31-40 Senior Pacemaker and its derivatives were a family of a six- and eight-seat utility aircraft built in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the late 1930s. They were the final revision of the original late 1920s Wright-Bellanca WB-2 design. The model numbers used by Bellanca in this period reflected the wing area (in this case, 310 square feet) and

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

horsepower (400 and up in this series), each divided by ten. Like their predecessors, these were high-wing braced

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

s with conventional tailwheel undercarriage. A single Senior Skyrocket was bought by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

for use as a utility transport, designated JE-1. Senior Skyrockets were also built under licence by

Northwest Industries SPAR Aerospace was a Canadian aerospace company. It produced equipment for the Canadian Space Agency to be used in cooperation with NASA's Space Shuttle program, most notably the Canadarm, a remote manipulator system. The company went through a ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 2007, a single example remains extant - the first Canadian-built aircraft (registration ''CF-DCH''). It is preserved at the

Reynolds-Alberta Museum The Reynolds-Alberta Museum is an agricultural museum, agricultural, industrial, and transportation museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada. The museum is situated on an property containing the main museum building, an aviation display hangar, and ...

Variants

* 31-40 Senior Pacemaker -

Wright Cyclone Wright Cyclone was the name given to a family of air-cooled radial piston engines designed by the Wright Aeronautical Corporation and used in numerous American aircraft in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Background The Wright Aeronautical Corporatio ...

engine, 400 hp (298 kW). * 31-42 Senior Pacemaker - Fitted with a redesigned tail surface, accommodation for one pilot and five passengers, powered by a 550-hp (410-kW)

Pratt & Whitney Wasp The Pratt & Whitney Wasp was the civilian name of a family of air-cooled, radial piston engines developed in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company (P&W) was founded in 1925 by Frederick B. Rentschler, who had previ ...

S3H1 radial piston engine. * 31-50 Senior Skyrocket -

Pratt & Whitney Hornet The Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet was a widely used American aircraft engine. Developed by Pratt & Whitney, 2,944 were produced from 1926 through 1942. It first flew in 1927. It was a single-row, 9-cylinder air-cooled radial design. Displaceme ...

engine, 550 hp (410 kW). ** L-11 - One 31-50 impressed into service by the United States Army Air Forces in Alaska in 1942. * 31-55 Senior Skyrocket ** JE-1 - Senior Skyrocket version for US Navy with 570 hp (425 kW) engine. ** de Luxe Senior Skyrocket - 31-55 with improved instrumentation and superior interior and exterior finishes, powered by a 525-hp (391-kW)

radial piston engine. ** Model 31-55A - Built under licence in Canada by Northwest Industries.

Operators

; *

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

; * Widerøes Flyveselskap

Specifications (31-55 Senior Skyrocket)

References

* *
aerofiles.com
{{USAF liaison aircraft 1930s United States civil utility aircraft 31-40 High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1935