, headquartered in
Wichita ,
Kansas , is a
Manufacturer of
General Aviation Aircraft , primarily specializing in small, piston-powered
Aircraft and medium-sized business jets.
The company traces its history to June
1911 , when
Clyde Cessna , a farmer in
Rago, Kansas , built a wood-and-fabric plane and became the first person to build and fly an aircraft between the
Mississippi River and the
Rocky Mountains .
Clyde Cessna started his aircraft ventures in
Enid, Oklahoma testing many of his early planes on the salt flats. When bankers in Enid would not loan him the money to build his planes, he moved to
Wichita .
Article in "Enid News"
In
1924 , Cessna partnered with
Lloyd C. Stearman and
Walter H. Beech to form the
Travel Air Manufacturing Co. , Inc., a
Biplane manufacturing firm, in Wichita. In
1927 he left Travel Air to form his own company, the "Cessna Aircraft Company", to build monoplanes.
Cessna Aircraft Company closed its doors from
1932 –
1934 due to the state of the economy. In 1934,
Dwane Wallace , with the help of his brother Dwight, took control of the company and began the process of building it into a global success.
After
World War II , Cessna created the
170 , which, along with later models (notably the
172 ), became the most widely produced light aircraft in history. Cessna's advertising boasts that its aircraft have trained more pilots than those of any other company.
Cessna was bought by
General Dynamics Corporation in
1985 , and it stopped producing piston-engine aircraft the next year due to concerns over
Product Liability . In
1992 ,
Textron Inc. bought Cessna and soon resumed producing light aircraft.
Currently, Cessna produces 4 and 6 place single engine airplanes, utility turboprops, and business jets.
Cessna has always had an active marketing department. This was especially notable during the
1950s and
1960s . During this period, the marketing department followed the lead of Detroit automobile manufacturers and came up with many marketing slogans or
Buzzwords to describe Cessna’s product line in an attempt to place their products ahead of the competition.
Other manufacturers and the aviation press widely ridiculed and spoofed many of these marketing terms but between Cessna’s designers producing a product that the flying public wanted and the work of the marketing department, Cessna built and sold more aircraft than any other manufacturer during the aviation boom years of the
1960s and
1970s .
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Cessna marketing buzzwords included:
- – these were the large fowler flaps that Cessna introduced on the Cessna 170 B in 1952, replacing the narrow chord plain flaps then in use.
- – In 1956 Cessna introduced sprung-steel Tricycle Landing Gear on the Cessna 172. The marketing department chose the buzzwords “Land-O-Matic” to try to convey that the these aircraft were much easier to land and take-off than the Conventional Landing Gear equipped Cessna 170 that preceded the 172. They even went as far as to say that the pilots could do “drive-up take-offs and drive-in landings” in an attempt to make it seem like flying these aircraft was as easy as driving a car. In later years some Cessna models had their steel sprung landing gear replaced with steel tube gear legs. The Cessna 206 retains the original spring steel landing gear today.
- – This referred to the introduction of rear windows on some Cessna singles, starting with the Cessna 182 and 210 in 1962, the Cessna 172 in 1963 and the Cessna 150 in 1964. The term was designed to make the pilot feel that visibility was improved on the notably poor-visibility Cessna line. The introduction of the rear window caused most models a loss of cruise speed due to the drag of the window shape, while not adding any useful visibility.
- – This was to announce the introduction of rubber mounts on the cowling of the 1967 model Cessna 150, in addition to the rubber mounts that isolated the engine from the cabin.
- - This referred to the flashing beacon on the tip of the fin that could be seen 360 degrees all-around.
- – This referred to the removal of the top section of the control wheel in 1967 models. These had been rectangular, they now became “ram’s horn” shaped, thus not blocking the instrument panel as much.
- – Cessna introduced a new instrument panel lay-out in the 1960s and this buzzword was to indicate that Cessna’s panels were ahead of the competition.
- Cessna NGP
- Cessna CH-1 Helicopter
- Cessna A
- Cessna BA
- Cessna AW
- Cessna 120
- Cessna 140
- Cessna 150 Commuter, Patroller & Aerobat
- Cessna 152
- Cessna 162 Skycatcher
- Cessna 165 Airmaster
- Cessna 170
- Cessna 172 Skyhawk , T-41 Mescalero
- Cessna 175 Skylark
- Cessna 177 Cardinal
- Cessna 180 Skywagon
- Cessna 182 Skylane
- Cessna 185 Skywagon
- Cessna 188 AGwagon, AGpickup, AGtruck, And AGhusky
- Cessna 190
- Cessna 195
- Cessna 205 Super Skywagon
- Cessna 206 Stationair & Super Skylane
- Cessna 207 Skywagon, Stationair 7 & 8
- Cessna 208 Caravan
- Cessna 210 Centurion
- Cessna 303
- Cessna 305 Birddog
- Cessna 310
- Cessna 320 Skynight
- Cessna 335
- Cessna 336 Skymaster , O-2 Skymaster
- Cessna 337 Skymaster
- Cessna 340
- Cessna 401 Utiliner And Businessliner
- Cessna 402 Utiliner And Businessliner
- Cesnna 404 Titan II
- Cessna 406 Caravan II
- Cessna 411
- Cessna 414 Chancellor
- Cessna 421 Golden Eagle
- Cessna 425 Conquest I
- Cessna 441 Conquest II
- Cessna 500 Citation I
- Cessna 501 Citation ISP
- Cessna 510 Citation Mustang
- Cessna 525 Citation Jet , CJ1, CJ1+
- Cessna 525A CJ2, CJ2+
- Cessna 525B CJ3
- Cessna 550 Citation II , Cessna Citation Bravo
- Cessna 551 Citation IISP
- Cessna S550 Citation SII
- Cessna 560 Citation V , Citation Ultra, Citation Encore, Citation Encore+
- Cessna Citation 560XL Excel, XLS, XLS+
- Cessna 650 Citation III , Citation VI, Citation VII
- Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign
- Cessna 750 Citation X
- Cessna AT-17 Bobcat
- Cessna C-34 Airmaster
- Cessna T-37
