Vincent Burnelli

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Vincent Justus Burnelli (born November 22, 1895 in Temple , Texas ; † June 22, 1964 ) was an American aeronautical engineer who was involved in the concept of the so-called lifting fuselage throughout his life and who played a decisive role in the development of the Wing concept . When he died at the age of 68, he had been involved in the design and construction of aircraft for a total of 50 years.

First drafts

In 1915 he and a friend designed his first airplane, an open biplane. This was even flown to what later became Roosevelt Field (New York), from which Charles Lindbergh then took his flight to Paris in 1927. Two years later he constructed a night fighter, hoping that this as a fighter plane in World War could be used. This hope was not fulfilled, but he was able to sell the plane to the New York police, who were already planning to carry out their operations from the air.

New concepts

In 1920 Burnelli teamed up with TT Remington and they formed the Airliner Engineering Corporation in Long Island, NY to build commercial aircraft. In 1921 he applied for patent protection for his concept of Lifting Fuselage . However, he did not receive the patent with the number 1,758,498 until nine years later.

The two biplane transport aircraft that were then produced in the 1920s were the RB-1 and the RB-2 derived from it. Both designs differed considerably from the earlier designs. The aircraft had a spacious fuselage that was rectangular in plan and had a profile-shaped longitudinal section. The basic idea behind his idea was that improvements in both performance and safety should be achieved.

It is worth mentioning that at the same time, but apparently independently of Burnelli, an aircraft was built in France that was very similar to the concept of the lift fuselage. It was the Dyle et Bacalan DB 10 Bn4 built in 1925 .

Although Burnelli himself described his concept as a flying wing ( Flying Wings ), but its construction all had a recognizable tail, often supported by upturned tail booms. So had his aircraft more the design of a lifting body ( lifting body ) as one Nurflügels, the latter has integrated all the aerodynamic control devices in the body and has no tail on.

Burnelli's first monoplane, the CB-16, appeared in 1928. Like the following Burnelli types made in the 1940s, it had some notable features:

  • The engines were located relatively close to one another and were arranged in front of the cabin on the "leading edge" of the fuselage.
  • At cruising speed, the profile-shaped hull contributed up to 50% to the lift.

The passenger cabin was particularly protected as it was surrounded by more than 60% of the aircraft structure. Burnelli was firmly convinced that its buoyancy principle offered a high level of safety as well as economic and operational advantages over conventional designs. Its design philosophy was endorsed by many well-known experts in civil and military aviation until the late 1940s. However, he did not succeed in gaining the political and economic backing that would have ensured public acceptance of his unconventional designs.

In different partnerships he worked for different companies and also founded some himself to produce his designs. But mostly only test aircraft or prototypes were created. Its last construction, the CBY-3 Loadmaster , was built by the Canada Car and Foundry in Montreal. The only prototype was tested intensively, but could not win any production orders.

Late years

Even after moving to Southampton, New York , Burnelli remained intact in his efforts to make his lift fuselage concept for transport aircraft a success. In 1955 he attempted to use his last design, the CBY-3, to transport an expedition of 20 people and 41 sled dogs along with all the equipment to the North Pole , but this undertaking did not come to fruition either. The Loadmaster was used as an airliner in both northern Canada and South America. The machine was then upgraded to new Wright R-2600 engines and finally ended its flight service at Baltimore -Maryland Airport. Since 1964 it can be viewed at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks , Connecticut .

Even today, his ideas are not completely forgotten, as can be seen, for example, in the design of the Flight Dynamics Seasprite hang-glider, in which the idea of ​​the buoyancy hull was clearly implemented.

Burnelli designs

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1] (PDF; 1.0 MB) Overview of Burnelli's life's work
  2. ↑ Air International Vol. 11, No. 2.
  3. ↑ Airplane Monthly December 1976: Page 643 Flight Dynamics Seasprite sailwing glider under tow by motor boat
personal data
SURNAME Burnelli, Vincent
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burnelli, Vincent Justus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American aerospace engineer
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Temple
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 1964