Cessna

Cessna (/ˈsɛsnə/) is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing corporation also headquartered in Wichita. The company produced small, piston-powered aircraft, as well as business jets. For much of the mid-to-late 20th century, Cessna was one of the highest-volume and most diverse producers of general aviation aircraft in the world. It was founded in 1927 by Clyde Cessna and Victor Roos and was purchased by General Dynamics in 1985, then by Textron in 1992. In March 2014, when Textron purchased the Beechcraft and Hawker Aircraft corporations, Cessna ceased operations as a subsidiary company, and joined the others as one of the three distinct brands produced by Textron Aviation.

Throughout its history, and especially in the years following World War II, Cessna became best known for producing small, high-wing, piston aircraft. Its most popular and iconic aircraft is the Cessna 172, delivered since 1956 (with a break from 1986 to 1996), with more sold than any other aircraft in history. Since the first model was delivered in 1972, the brand has also been well known for its Citation family of low-wing business jets which vary in size.

Clyde Cessna, a farmer in Rago, Kansas, built his own aircraft and flew it in June 1911. He was the first person to do so between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Cessna started his wood-and-fabric aircraft ventures in Enid, Oklahoma, testing many of his early planes on the salt flats. When bankers in Enid refused to lend him more money to build his planes, he moved to Wichita.

Cessna Aircraft was formed when Clyde Cessna and Victor Roos became partners in the Cessna-Roos Aircraft Company in 1927. Roos resigned just one month into the partnership, selling back his interest to Cessna. Shortly afterward, Roos's name was dropped from the company name.

The Cessna DC-6 earned certification on the same day as the stock market crash of 1929, October 29, 1929.

In 1932, the Cessna Aircraft Company closed due to the Great Depression.

However, the Cessna CR-3 custom racer made its first flight in 1933. The plane won the 1933 American Air Race in Chicago and later set a new world speed record for engines smaller than 500 cubic inches by averaging 237 mph (381 km/h).

Cessna's nephews, brothers Dwane and Dwight Wallace, bought the company from Cessna in 1934. They reopened it and began the process of building it into what would become a global success.