Following earlier aviation exploits, Giuseppe Bellanca joined forces with the Wright Aero Corporation in 1924 as a consultant. Wright required an airframe to best demonstrate its new J-2 Whirlwind engine, and the WB-2, which went on to win many events in the 1926 air race calendar, was the result. Despite the aircraft's success, Wright decided to concentrate on engine manufacture and sold the airframe business to Charles Levine, whom Bellanca went into partnership with under the name of Columbia Aircraft Company. Consequently, the WB-2 was renamed Columbia. Charles Lindbergh approached the company to use the Columbia for his planned Atlantic crossing, but was refused by Levine, who was preparing to use the Columbia in his own bid for the title in 1927 (Levine was to be a passenger). Levine became involved in a legal wrangle with his team of aviators and Lindbergh's Ryan-designed machine succeeded in crossing the Atlantic first. Weeks later the Columbia made the transatlantic journey to Berlin in a record time, and the Columbia was hailed as a great design, not least in having a passenger seat and windshield.

Consequently Bellanca, who parted with Levine, went on to achieve great commercial success, first with the CH-300 derived from the high-wing monoplane WB-1 and WB-2.