In 1925, Clarence Duncan Chamberlin was friends with, and worked as chief test pilot for, the aircraft designer Giuseppe Mario Bellanca.

Bellanca built an all-wood aircraft, the WB-1 in 1926, which crashed at Curtiss Field in an attempt on the world non-refueled endurance record.

Once on the water, the large gas tanks could provide flotation, and a saw was carried to drop the dead engine weight if needed.

Bellanca left Wright Aeronautical, with the rights to the WB-2, and the WB-2 prototype purchased for $15,500 and formed a new interest, Columbia Aircraft Company, with the investor Charles Levine.

With check in hand, Levine added a stipulation that Columbia Aircraft would select the flight crew, to which Lindbergh objected.

Reminding Lindbergh that the WB-2 was the only plane that could make the flight at the time, they made him leave to reconsider and call back the next day.