Clyde Cessna
In the early 1900s, Kansas farm boy Clyde Cessna was one of the many
young men whose imagination was captured by the Wright brothers' first
flight and the brand new field of aviation.
So, in 1911, he taught himself to fly. In the next seven years, Cessna
earned a reputation as an accomplished and daring exhibition pilot.
In 1925, he teamed up with Walter Beech and Lloyd Stearman to form the
Travel Air Manufacturing Company, which built biplanes. He stayed with
the company only two years before leaving to concentrate his
manufacturing efforts on monoplanes.
His airplane business was hit hard by the Great Depression, and for a
time Cessna stopped production. But, in 1933, Cessna and his nephews
Dwane and Dwight Wallace reopened the factory. The business got off
the ground quickly, in time to furnish military planes during the war.
Today, Cessna sells more light and mid?size business jets than all
other companies combined.
|
|
')){kind=link}