Intended as a low-cost aircraft, its limited production run relegated it to a footnote in aviation history.

The American Eagle Aircraft Corporation found that demand for their A-129 biplane and their other models was badly affected by the Wall Street stockmarket crash of late 1929 which ushered in the Great Depression.

The small ultra-light, tandem two-seat Eaglet was therefore designed by company president, Edward E. Porterfield, to appeal to pilots with more modest pockets.

[3] Production rights to the Eaglet later went to American Eaglecraft who produced three examples from 1940–1947 and rebuilt further aircraft of this design.

[4] An improved variant of the Eaglet called the Rearwin Junior, was designed by former Eagle employee Doug Webber and went into a limited production in 1931.