In 1921, Burnelli organized the Remington-Burnelli Co. to help promote his design. Over the next few years, the company set out to produce a series of transport prototypes based upon his revolutionary concept. Each incorporated the most modern features, often before they appeared on more conventionally designed aircraft of the time. In 1924, the RB-2, an air freight version of the RB-1, was introduced. The RB-2 incorporated corrugated metal construction.

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By 1928, Burnelli joined forces with banker and Skylines Inc. president Paul B. Chapman to build the CB-16. The plane not only was Burnelli’s first monoplane transport but also incorporated all-metal construction and retractable landing gear. In 1929, the aileron cables became crossed during maintenance, and the plane crashed during testing. Both the pilot, Lieutenant George Pond, and his co-pilot emerged from the wreckage unhurt, a tribute to both the strength and the safety of the Burnelli design.

To build the Chapman Airliner, Burnelli had rented space and tools at Aeromarine’s Keyport, N.J., plant. The arrangement led to his next business enterprise in 1929 when Burnelli joined Aeromarine backer Inglis M. Uppercu to form a new company, Uppercu-Burnelli Corp. Uppercu served as the firm’s president and sales manager, while Burnelli worked as a vice president and the firm’s chief engineer.

The company soon established operations at Aeromarine’s Keyport plant. The UB-20 was Burnelli’s first offering at Uppercu-Burnelli. The 20-passenger airliner clearly captured the public’s imagination when it made its first public showing on February 7, 1930, at the New York Aviation Show. The New York Times reported that Burnelli’s aircraft was “the largest plane in the show” and “the centre [sic] of airplane interest in the exposition.”

Probably the greatest technical breakthrough of Burnelli’s UB-20 was its all-metal construction. “The new all-metal Burnelli 20-passenger transport…incorporates a new type of structure possessing important advantages in strength-to-weight efficiency,” Burnelli wrote about the liner in Aero Digest. “Outstanding advantages of this type of construction are reduction of fabricating expense and greater durability afforded by the heavy, flat, stressed skin covering,” Burnelli observed. Tests at the time substantiated many of Burnelli’s claims about the superiority of his design. An article in Aero Digest in 1930 stated that the Burnelli transport was 2.76 percent lighter and had a smaller frontal resistance area and greater lift than a conventionally designed twin-engine transport of the same size.

The designer’s activities during the period, however, were not confined entirely to large transport aircraft. In 1929, Burnelli designed and built a smaller version of his airplane called the GX-3, a three-seat, open-cockpit, twin-engine monoplane as an entry for the $150,000 Guggenheim Safe Aircraft Competition.

The competition, sponsored by millionaire Daniel Guggenheim, was intended to promote the development of commercial aircraft. Burnelli’s aircraft did not win the competition. Although it was clearly one of the most original and innovative entries, it arrived too late at New York’s Mitchell Field to take part in the competition’s official trials. Despite the setback, the GX-3’s performance was reported to have been excellent.

Uppercu-Burnelli Corporation was also involved in building small sport aircraft. The firm produced the Aeromarine-Klemm, a German-designed, personal sport monoplane, under license at its Keyport plant for the American market. In 1930, Uppercu-Burnelli also introduced its own floatplane version, called the Uppercu-Burnelli Amphibian seaplane.

Unlike Burnelli’s transports, the seaplane had little that was revolutionary about its design. With a length of 23 feet 5 inches, a wingspan of just over 40 feet and an empty weight of about 1,300 pounds, the design of the small, single-engine, two-seat, low-wing sport monoplane was relatively straightforward. It was essentially the Aeromarine-Klemm with floats added. Nonetheless, the design of the floats, not the aircraft, upheld Burnelli’s reputation for innovation. A set of four retractable landing wheels mounted in the floats permitted the plane to operate on land as well as on water. The plane attracted considerable attention when it made its first public appearance at the Newark, N.J., municipal airport and at Long Island’s Roosevelt Field. Those watching were convinced the seaplane would crash as it attempted to land on an ordinary tarmac runway. Instead, the small sports plane made a perfect landing despite the presence of the large set of floats.

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