Which Burnelli aircraft survives today?

Short answer

The Burnelli CBY-3, the only surviving aircraft designed by Vincent Burnelli. It was an airliner of unconventional configuration, built in Canada in 1944 by Canadian Car and Foundry. It last flew on 8 December 1959 and, restored, returned to public display in December 2020.

Published: November 5, 2026 · Updated: November 5, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Burnelli Loadmaster 2025

The only surviving Burnelli

The CBY-3 is the only aircraft designed by American aeronautical engineer Vincent Burnelli that survives today. It is an airliner of unconventional configuration, built in Canada in 1944 by Canadian Car and Foundry. The "lifting body" feature that keeps the US Space Shuttle aloft after reentry has been described as a direct application of Burnelli's lifting-fuselage design.

From Cartierville to Baltimore

With Clyde Pangborn and V. J. Hatton at the controls, the aircraft, registered CF-BEL-X, made its first flight on 17 July 1945 from Cartierville Airport in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada. Its last flight took place on 8 December 1959, landing at Friendship Airport — today Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport — in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, outside Baltimore.

Decades on display

In 1972, the Occidental Aircraft Corporation donated the airframe to the Connecticut Aeronautical Historical Association, which displayed it outdoors at the Bradley Air Museum. The aircraft ended up at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. In December 2020, now restored, the CBY-3 returned to public display, moved to the museum's Civil Aviation Hangar.