TES/Blue Streak | |
---|---|
Role | Distance record aircraft |
Manufacturer | Bellanca Aircraft Corporation |
Designer | Giuseppe Mario Bellanca |
First flight | 1929 |
Retired | 1931 |
Status | crashed |
Number built | 1 |
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.[1]
In 1930 it was refitted with two 600 hp Curtiss Conqueror engines and reinforced for the Chicago Daily News as a cargo plane named The Blue Streak. The aircraft crashed on 26 May, 1931 when the rear propeller driveshaft broke due to vibration and all four on board lost their lives.