The Bellanca CH-200/CH-300 Pacemaker were a six-seat, high-wing, single-engine utility aircraft built in the United States in the 1920s & 30s
It was a development of the Wright WB-2 that Bellanca had acquired the rights to in 1926 and was the first Bellanca-branded aircraft to gain a type certificate.
The CH-200 was used in a number of pioneering long-distance flights and attempts on distance and endurance records.
Bellanca further developed the earlier CH-200 to create the CH-300 Pacemaker.
The CH-300 was a conventional, high-wing braced monoplane with fixed tail wheel undercarriage.
Like other Bellanca aircraft of the period, it featured “flying struts”.
While the CH-200 was powered by 220 hp Wright J-5 engines, the CH-300 series Pacemakers were powered by 300 hp Wright J-6s.
Late in the series, some -300s were fitted with 420 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasps, leading to the CH-400 Skyrocket series.
The Bellanca 31-40 Senior Pacemaker and its derivatives were a family of a six- and eight-seat utility aircraft built in the United States in the late 1930s.
They were the final revision of the original late 1920s Wright-Bellanca WB-2 design.
The model numbers used by Bellanca in this period reflected the wing area (in this case, 310 square feet) and engine horsepower (400 and up in this series), each divided by ten.
Like their predecessors, these were high wing braced monoplanes with conventional tail wheel undercarriage.
A single Senior Skyrocket was bought by the United States Navy in 1938 for use as a utility transport, designated JE-1.
Senior Skyrockets were also built under license by Northwest Industries in Canada following World War II.
Variants
CH-300W
CH-300 converted to use a Pratt & Whitney R-985 engine (one converted)
300-W
31-40 Senior Pacemaker
Wright Cyclone engine, 400 hp (298 kW)
31-42 Senior Pacemaker
Fitted with a redesigned tail surface, accommodation for one pilot and five passengers, powered by a 550-hp (410-kW) Pratt & Whitney Wasp S3H1 radial piston engine.
31-50 Senior Skyrocket
Pratt & Whitney Hornet engine, 550 hp (410 kW)
L-11
One 31-50 impressed into service by the United States Army Air Forces in Alaska in 1942.
31-55 Senior Skyrocket
JE-1
Senior Skyrocket version for US Navy with 570 hp (425 kW) engine
De Luxe Senior Skyrocket
31-55 with improved instrumentation and superior interior and exterior finishes,
powered by a 525-hp (391-kW) Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial piston engine.
Model 31-55A
Built under license in Canada by Northwest Industries.
