Part Four: Birdman of Kansas

PART FOUR
The following is exerted from CLYDE CESSNA AND THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND, by Edward H. Phillips published Sep. ’96 Aviation History Feature. Mr. Phillips has written the most authoritative biographical works on Clyde Vernon Cessna and Cessna Aircraft Company. His books, “Cessna—A Master’s Expression”  and “Wings of Cessna” are only available through used book websites.
 
       In the years that followed Cessna’s first forays into the air and his successful aero exhibition business, he became increasingly enamored with the idea of building and selling airplanes to the public. Although his initial attempt in 1916­17 was less than successful, Cessna never gave up on his dream of becoming an aircraft manufacturer.
In 1924, however, he joined forces with Lloyd C. Stearman and Walter H. Beech to found the Travel Air Manufacturing Co., Inc., in Wichita. Cessna was named president of the biplane manufacturing company and provided both money and equipment to help establish and support the infant business.
In 1927, Cessna left the company to build his version of the ultimate airplane–the full-cantilever wing monoplane called the Phantom. Confident that he had a truly marketable design, Clyde formed the Cessna Aircraft Co. in 1927. The Phantom led to a series of attractive, speedy airplanes such as the Model AW and the DC-6 series that sold well until the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929.
    [As sales of planes faded during the depression years, the Board of Directors voted to close the factory. Clyde was the only one who voted to keep it open. The doors were shut until 1934 when his nephews, Dwight and Dwayne Wallace, helped Clyde rally enough stockholders to vote in a new Board of Directors. They reopened the plant with themselves as chief officers.]
      Along with his son Eldon, Clyde designed and built two racing airplanes in the early 1930s, one of which famed pilot Johnny Livingston flew to victory in every race he entered. Unfortunately, the other racer crashed and killed Cessna’s good friend Roy Liggett. Stricken with grief, Cessna withdrew from aviation, never to actively return.
When his nephews Dwane L. and Dwight Wallace resurrected the Cessna Aircraft Company in 1934, Clyde Cessna refused to participate directly in its re-emergence. As further testimony to his aversion to aviation, in the late 1930s he destroyed the 1917 Comet monoplane, according to his son Eldon. With it went the last vestige of Clyde Vernon Cessna’s early legacy of flight.
 
21 Nov 1954            The Wichita Eagle      Sun     page 1
   Clyde V. Cessna, 74, pioneer Wichita aviator and plane manufacturer died at his farm near Rago, KS, Saturday evening.  Cessna, founder of the Cessna Aircraft Co., was a personal friend of many of the leading statesmen and businessmen of Kansas and the nation. During his life he received many honors for his pioneering and work in the development of aviation.  In a telegram to Cessna on Feb. 28, 1953, President Eisenhower praised the man for his part in the growth of the aviation industry. The message read: “Congratulations for the prominent part you have played in the early development of aviation. Your work has been a splendid contribution to this great industry and Kansas can be proud of your memorable pioneering in this field.”
    More than 40 years ago, Cessna displayed his interest in aviation by trying to build a plane in Oklahoma City, OK. The flying pioneer took a motor-boat engine, gathered together some nails, hickory stock, and some old bedsheets and proceeded to make an airplane. This attempt to build a plane took place only eight years after the Wright brothers made their first flight.
      Early in 1911, Cessna flew his handmade plane for a short distance over the salt flats in Oklahoma. Through the insistence of the Jones Motor Car Co., located in Wichita, Cessna came to Wichita and erected his first buildings in the northeast part of town. In 1917, the following year, he produced a monoplane which was powered by a six-cylinder air cooled engine.
   In late 1924 Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman decided to pool their knowledge and resources to build airplanes. They constructed a three place, open cockpit biplane which successfully flew early in 1925. These three organized the Travel-Aire Manufacturing Co.
      Cessna left the firm and in 1927 organized his own firm and built five factory buildings on the present site. Early in 1934 when he retired, Cessna’s nephew, Dwane L. Wallace, became a member of the Cessna firm. The firm continued to build commercial aircraft until the entry of the United States in World War II.  Following the war, in 1952, the Cessna company did more than $41,000,000 in business and led the entire industry in the manufacture of commercial private aircraft.
       A pyramid of tributes was heaped before Cessna at a special dinner in Wichita in 1953. Present for the unusual occasion were Cessna officials and distributors from every part of the country, Wichita business leaders and representatives of more than a score of American magazines and newspapers, plus personal friends.  Telegrams praising Cessna were received from General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, General Jimmy Doolittle, Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Horn, Admiral Dewitt C. Ramsey, and Harold Pitcairn.
            More honors and praise were given Cessna at the dedication of Wichita’s $10,000,000 Municipal Airport in October. It was Cessna’s last public appearance.  Survivors include his widow, of the home, one son, Eldon of El Segundo, California; a daughter, Mrs. Hugh McVey, Whittier, California; one sister, Mrs. R.A. Herman, Wichita; four brothers, Noel M. Cessna, Wichita; Bert Cessna, of Ingalls, KS; Paul (Pearl) Cessna of Saskatchewan, Canada, and Roy Cessna of Norwich, KS.

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