Bellanca established itself in the market for 6-8 seat aircraft, but believed that it could also successfully sell smaller 3-4 seat aircraft. To fill this niche Bellanca designed The '14-7 Cruisair' as a modern, low-wing cantilever monoplane with a fuselage intended to contribute lift to the design. Although the prototype flew with fixed tailwheel undercarriage, the 14-9 production version was the first US light aircraft to be mass-produced with retractable undercarriage, the main wheels rotating aft into wheel-wells in the wings, with approximately 50 produced before production was interrupted by World War II.