The Bellanca TES (Tandem Experimental Sesquiplane) or Blue Streak was a push-pullsesquiplane 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.
Specifications (with Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines)
Data from Aerofiles : Bellanca,[2] Letec : Bellanca TES[3]
General characteristics
Crew: 2
Capacity: 2 pax or relief crew
Length: 44 ft 2 in (13.46 m)
Wingspan: 83 ft 2 in (25.35 m)
Wing area: 910 sq ft (85 m2)
Empty weight: 6,990 lb (3,171 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 20,935 lb (9,496 kg)
Fuel capacity: 2,200 US gal (1,832 imp gal; 8,328 L)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 425 hp (317 kW) each </ref>
