John Wyman recently acquired a 1957 Bellanca Cruisemaster 14-19-2 that is currently undergoing restoration in the garage of his father, Bill, in Pincourt. The two dismantled and ferried the aircraft into Canada by trailer last October. Their trip spanned some 1600 miles, taking four days to complete. (A recollection of this was printed recently in the St. Lazare Flying Club's newsletter). Since then, Bill has removed the fuselage fabric, exposing the core of the airframe for restoration and future retrofit with new radios, instruments and components. All told, the aircraft is in remarkable condition given its lack of activity over the last decade, this in part, due to the dry hangar where it was stored in Ohio.

John recently registered the aircraft (s/n 4047) as CF-VCM (V... Cruise Master). It is one of only five identical aircraft now found on the Canadian civil aircraft registry. The 14-19-2 (or "230" as it is sometimes called) was produced for only one year from 1957 through mid 58', with a total of 103 aircraft produced. It later gave way, under a new administration, to the nosewheel -3 with 260 hp, albeit its total empty weight increased by close to 300lbs, without much more of a performance increase. This model sports a Continental O470K (230hp), a constant speed propeller, retractable landing gear, 4 seats, 186 lbs. baggage capacity, and an all-up payload of approximately 1000 lbs. This is with an impressive cruising speed of 160mph TAS at 22" of Hg and 2200 RPM, as reported by other Cruisemaster owners and with cross-reference to its operating manual.
See also http://www.russellw.com/planes/cruisemaster/

John intends to eventually use the aircraft for long distance vacations with his family and for a potential tour of the Arctic someday. After that...who knows where? Until then, you'll find Bill and John diligently working towards restoring the aircraft one section at a time - ultimately back to flying condition. I guess that will come some day!

John and Bill estimate that the restoration will take between two and three years to complete. John intends on keeping the aircraft as true to its original factory configuration as possible, only adding additional upgrades as necessary. Good luck on the work ahead guys!