The Bold Innovator
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It is not that often that one finds a genuinely historic aviation site within walking distance. But that is exactly the case with the main commercial manufacturing and research operations of the legendary Bellanca Aircraft Factory having been located just one mile from Aerospace Perceptions headquarters.
In The Epic of Flight published by Time-Life Books, Sicilian immigrant Giuseppe Bellanca is heralded as “the man who would create some of the finest aircraft of the 1920s, planes that spanned oceans and continents and helped to show that flying machines were practical vehicles.”
Giuseppe Bellanca is seen at the controls of his Model J design during construction in 1927. The following year this aircraft would stay aloft for a record 51 hours 52 minutes. Photo: John W. Underwood Collection
After gaining acclaim for his aircraft design skills that unquestionably proved their worth beginning at fundamental aviation events like 1922’s Midwestern Flying Meet, Bellanca’s reputation was growing in prominence. Around 1927 – in the same time frame that Bellanca’s Model J was on the verge of setting new in-flight duration records – Delaware’s Henry duPont Jr. led an ultimately successful effort to lure the designer to New Castle.
Part of the historical collection at the Bellanca Airfield Museum. Photo: Frank Moriarty/Aerospace Perceptions
As recounted in Milestones of Aviation, the historical reference published by the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, one of the most significant feats by a Bellanca aircraft came with pilots Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon Jr. at the controls of Miss Veedol – built at the then-newly-constructed Bellanca Aircraft Factory in New Castle. Taking off from an 8000-foot airstrip in Japan, the two pilots jettisoned their landing gear to save weight and set off on a remarkable 4,883 mile flight that took 41 hours to complete. When this historic Bellanca aircraft safely completed a risky belly landing in the state of Washington on October 5, 1931, it had become the first airplane to make a nonstop Pacific crossing.
The Bellanca Aircraft Factory’s Air Service hangar, the current home of the Bellanca Airfield Museum. The museum grounds host a number of annual automobile events. Photo: Frank Moriarty/Aerospace Perceptions
Today only the factory facility’s Air Service hangar remains standing, housing the historically significant Bellanca Airfield Museum, located near Historic New Castle. Dedicated to preserving the history of Giuseppe Bellanca’s innovative designs and his contribution to aviation history at large, the museum’s focus also touches on many other aspects of aviation history. Well worth a visit, the museum is opening for its summer season in April.
The 140th Anniversary Commemoration of Giuseppe Bellanca on March 19, 2026, at Wilmington Airport. New Castle City Council members Suzanne Souder (left) and Brian Mattaway (third from left) join New Castle Mayor Valarie Leary in honoring Bellanca family members. Photo: Courtesy Brian Mattaway
On March 19, 2026, a 140th Anniversary Commemoration of the achievements of Giuseppe Bellanca was held at an entirely appropriate location: the Wilmington Airport Terminal, located just a few hundred feet from the Bellanca Airfield Museum and the site of Bellanca Aircraft operations. Numerous government officials and members of the Bellanca family gathered to celebrate the memory of a true aviation pioneer, one with vision that led to cutting edge aircraft that also had that most important of qualifications: they were practical and useful.
The Bellanca Airfield Museum is located at:
2 Centerpoint Blvd New Castle, DE 19720 (1 mile East of the New Castle Farmers Market on Route 13, adjacent to Amazon distribution facility)
Museum operating hours are: 2nd and 4th Saturdays, April through October, 11 am to 3 pm.
