Since 1912 the placards of some of aviation's most innovative designs have borne the Bellanca name. The company's founder; Giuseppe Mario Bellanca , received a degree in Math and Physics from the Polytechnic Institute of Milan, and was among the first in the world to apply these principles to the design of aircraft. This early aeronautical engineer who has been honoured on the cover of Time magazine and inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame, formed the Bellanca Aircraft Company in 1927.

Lindberg's first choice of aircraft for his epic Trans-Atlantic flight was a Bellanca. Bellanca designs were unmatched in contests of efficiency, speed, endurance, and technology in the early days of aviation. With Bellanca aircraft designs topping the leader boards at national and international aviation races and contests, Charles Lindberg sought the best. One of Bellanca's financial backers insisted on riding along as a passenger, however, so the Lone Eagle was obliged to seek his place in history in another craft.

Just eight days after Lindberg's record flight, a Bellanca (the Columbia ) took off from New York - with the passenger -and flew non-stop to Germany. In little more than a week Lindberg's record had fallen - by a wide margin -with little fanfare. During the next decade Bellanca aircraft made ten more ocean crossings with increasing speeds and distances covered, and included the first Trans-Pacific crossing. While others still dreamed about the possibility, Bellanca was turning advancing technology into reality.

August T. Bellanca, son of the company founder and himself a graduate aeronautical engineer later joined his father in the business. In 1954 the Bellancas left their company to form a new engineering and development firm. In 1983 this new company became the AviaBellanca Aircraft Corporation. August Bellanca today is an expert in the design of both civil and military aircraft, and in the use of strong, lightweight composite materials. He holds a number of patents. He has provided engineering services in these fields for such giants in aerospace as Boeing/Vertol, Douglas, and Grumman.