Bellanca Aries T-250
Some information I gathered on the Aries T-250 aircraft, it appears that;
There were "at least" four of these aircraft built. It was the project of Marvin Greenwood and
the original example was constructed between 1969 and 1973. In the late seventies the company
he partnered (Anderson, Greenwood and Co.) controlled the Bellanca Aircraft Company
and as many ads of the day suggest they began a rivival of sorts for the Bellanca line (which
then also included the Champion line of planes as well).
The Aries T-250 was FAA certified on July 28, 1976 and the AG&Co. literature of the day
projected T-250 production to begin at the Bellanca factory beginning in early 1978, with an
optomistic first year run of 15 to 20 aircraft. Obviously this never happened and the FAA's
registry as of today, only contains five aircraft: Serial numbers 0003 through 0007. S/N 0003
is the plane referenced in the "In Flight USA" magazine below and still shows to be registered in
California. S/N 0004 shows to be registered in Illinois and S/N 0005 shows a government
registration to Central Texas College in Killeen, Texas...which tends to confirm the articles claim.
S/N 0006 & 0007 are on the FAA's registry with N numbers (250BB & 250DD) and no other
information. It would be my guess that the S/Ns and N#s were assigned and submitted to the
FAA so the company could borrow against them. It is unknown if either of these aircraft ever
started or completed production. I've also not been able to find either of the first two aircraft
(assuming they were numbered starting at S/N 1), one of which had to be Greenwood's
handmade prototype.
Some recently submitted information (11/24/04):
Hi, My name is Warren Wilbur and I worked at the factory for Jay, Marge and James. I left in the summer of 1972 due to personality conflicts with DePalma. Jay asked me to come back in 1975 as president. When I left we owed a total of 100 k and were producing approx. 17 Vikings a month, when I returned in 1975 we had no sales, Vikings covered the field and we had 5 mm in debt, Champs were no better. Jay, James Marge and I were able to work out of that situation and we negotiated the agreement with Marv Greenwood. It is my recollection ( after nearly 30 years ) that # 1 was the aircraft that was used in the destruct phases of the certification process, which had been completed before we got involved. # 2 was the flying prototype. Probably unknown at this time was the infamous fly off. James was the show me type so we lined up a 210, a bonanza , the Viking and of course the 250. Against all a/c the 250 would lag a bit in initial take off role ( remember it was a carbureted lyc 250 ) but then role ahead, lift off first and out climb and out distance all three. However in my personal view, it was the UGLIEST airplane and ( I’m 6’2”) the panel was so high it was hard to see over. These could be reasons why it never got off the ground. Best WAW
Aries T-250 sales brochure...circa 1979
Article printed in "In Flight USA" June, 1995
