N17N  (YV-X-ERC) Canadian Car and Foundry (Burnelli) CBY-3 Loadmaster    (c/n  1)

                                 

                                      This interesting aircraft was reputed have carried the experimental registration YV-X-ERC
                                      although I have never seen an image of it bearing that registration. It was, however, operated
                                      for a while by RUTAS. In the early 1960s, RANSA, which was by then more or less on its
                                      last legs, acquired five old Boeing Stratocruisers to boost its freight capacity and at the same
                                      time also leased the one and only Cancargo CBY-3.   This had been built in Canada under
                                      the direction of the designer, Vincent J. Burnelli.  It employed an unusual aerofoil-section fuselage
                                      which, by providing approximately fifty percent of the lift, was capable of taking on large concen-
                                      trated loads.   The photograph below, taken at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey prior to its
                                      deployment to Venezuela, shows this arrangement in more detail.  RANSA abruptly ended all
                                      operations in 1964.  As for the Burnelli CBY-3, well, it was acquired by the New England Air
                                      Museum and moved to Bradley Field, Connecticut.  Unfortunately it was never restored (despite
                                      their avowed declaration to do so) and sits rotting outside to this day.   What a shame for such a
                                      unique piece of aeronautical engineering.