Viewing page 8 of 14

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

envisioned an airliner fuselage in the shape of a wing to contribute lift, present less drag, and have a much smoother appearance. This idea grew and Burnelli left Nebraska Aircraft Corporation in late 1920. He and Charles Cox, former Lawson pilot, took over the defunct Continental Aircraft Company factory at Amityville, Long Island, and started work at once on an airliner to develop Burnelli's advanced ideas.

The project was backed by George C. T. Remington and in early April 1921, the Airliner Engineer Company was incorporated, with Remington as President and General Manager; Cox as Vice-President and Treasurer; Burnelli, as Chief Engineer and Designer, and John Carisi, as Construction Supervisor. Known as the R-B-1, the first Remington-Burnelli airliner was completed and test flown by Bert Acosta at Curtiss Field, Garden City, New York, about the first of July. It was a 74-foot-span biplane, powered by two Liberty-12 engines driving tractor propellers. The fuselage was of airfoil shape, wide enough to house the engines in the corners of the nose with ample propeller clearance, and acommodated 25 passengers. By mid-August the plane had been flown extensively by test pilots Acosta, Bertaud, Page and Coombs, all of whom were highly pleased with is unusual performance. Tests of the plane continued for some time and full passenger loads were carried on several occasions. 

During this period the factory was moved to Maspeth, Long Island, where early in 1924 the R-B-2 was completed. The span had been increased to 84 feet and it was designed as a freight carrier, powered by two British-built, Atlantic Galloway 500 h.p., 12-cylinder Vee-type engines. This plane later carried a Hudson-Essex automobile, some office furniture and several passengers. Developments continued as they moved the business to Brainard Field, Hartford, Connecticut. 

Following the termination of this venture in 1927, Burnelli became co-founder of the Uppercu-Burnelli Aircraft Corporation, using the former Aeromarine-Klemm

3