Basically an updated version of the Fairchild FC-2W2, the Fairchild 71 incorporated many improvements that resulted from experience with the FC-2 and its variants. Providing comfortable seating for a pilot and six passengers, it was powered by a 313kW Pratt & Whitney Wasp 9-cylinder radial engine. The Fairchild 71 was built in modest numbers from 1928 until 1930, when it was replaced in production by the Fairchild 71 A. This differed primarily by having a few degrees of sweepback on the wings, and it introduced a number of refinements to the interior.

Though civil operators acquired most of the Fairchild 71s and 71As, the US Army acquired one Fairchild 71 for evaluation as a light transport under the designation XC-8; dedicated later for photographic work it was redesignated XF-1; eight service-test aircraft were ordered underthe designation YF-1, and all nine of the foregoing were later redesignated C-8. Six production Fairchild 71As followed with the designation F-1A, later redesignated C-8A The US Navy also acquired a single example for service test under the designation XJ2Q-1, later redesignated R2Q-1.

In 1930 a Canadian branch of the company was established at Longueuil, Quebec, as Fairchild Aircraft Ltd. In addition to providing support for something like 70 Fairchild aircraft operating in Canada, it began producing the Fairchild 71 for the Canadian Department of National Defence. These aircraft differed from standard by the removal of the features introduced for passenger comfort and were equipped specifically for aerial photography. A commercial Fairchild 71-C was built and marketed later and was available also as the Fairchild 71-CM with a metal-skinned fuselage.

With a view to meeting Canadian requirements for a freight carrier of greater capacity than the standard Fairchild 71, the Fairchild Super 71 floatplane was developed in 1934. Of slightly greater span, it had also a longer and entirely new oval-section fuselage of light alloy construction. The pilot was given a cockpit on the upper surface of the fuselage, to the rear of the cabin, with a somewhat restricted forward view between the top of the fuselage and the undersurface of the wing. The cabin could accommodate eight passengers, but the seats were easily removable to create an uncluttered cargo space. Large cargo doors were inset in the port side of the cabin and a passenger door to starboard, the entire accommodation being heated and ventilated. Power was provided by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial engine enclosed completely in a low-drag cowling. Only two Super 71s were completed and supplied to the Canadian Department of National Defence.