Bellanca Pacemaker

Painting by Robert Bradford, National Museum of Science & Technology.  Bellanca Pacemaker CF-ATN of General Airways Ltd taking off from a northern lake circa 1932.

Giuseppe Mario Bellanca emigrated from Sicily to the U.S. and built his first plane in 1913.  This was the very first tractor aircraft, with its propeller at the front.   In 1927, a Bellanca aircraft, the Miss Columbia, was set to challenge Lindbergh for the first solo crossing of the Atlantic, but was grounded at the airport until a lawsuit was settled.  Two weeks later, with two people aboard, it flew from Roosevelt Field to Eisleben, Germany in under 43 hours, establishing a new flight distance record.

National Aeronautical Collection, Ottawa

And currently on display at the Canada Aviation Museum.