Vincent Burnelli was a designer of some unique aircraft that employed the aerofoil fuselage shape as a lifting wing,Burnelli spent many years developing this idea and build suitable aircraft to test his theories.
The first design was the Remington Burnelli airliner built in 1920,followed by the RB-2 biplane freighter in 1924.
In 1928 he set about designing the Chapman-Burnelli CB-16 which was recorded as the first ever wide bodied air transport accommodating 20 passengers in the main cabin area.
In 1929,Burnelli adopted his lifting fuselage concept on a twin engined experimental monoplane called the GX-3,this competed in the Guggenheim safe aircraft competition,this aircraft also featured a variable camber wing,full span flaps and a four wheel undercarriage.
He continued his attempts to develop a commercially attractive transport aircraft which embodied the lifting fuselage concept in its construction.
The picture below shows the Cunliffe Owen OA-1 built only in prototype form at Southampton,UK and fitted with two 710 hp Bristol Perseus XIVC radial engines.
His A-1 bomber design proved the basis for the General aircraft XCG-16a Transport glider which was intened to carry up to 40 fully equipped troops.
His last lifting body design the Cancargo CBY-3 Loadmaster was produced just after World war 2 by the Cancargo aircraft manufacturing company,this was built entirely of metal and was powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radial engines,the large lifting body fuselage could accomodate 22 passengers.
Burnelli without a doubt was just too far ahead of time,but he was a genius of the lifting body concept which was used in many ways especially space vehicles in later years.
Sadly he was never to know this as he died in 1964
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