Cessna company formed in 1927

Clyde Cessna first got the aviation bug in 1911 at the Moisant International Aviation Air Circus in Oklahoma City. Cessna, a farmer and an auto mechanic decided he would try his hand at building airplanes.

In 1925, Cessa would join with two businessmen, Walter Beech and Lloyd Stearman, to create the Travel Air Manufacturing Company, with Cessna as president. But conflict quickly emerged and Cessna left the company. Now on his own, he would form his own company and sold shares to gain capital. Victor Roos would purchase many of those shares and on Sept. 8, 1927, the Cessna-Roos Company would be incorporated in a 5,000-square-foot factory in Wichita.

Just three months later, Roos would leave the company, which was then reorganized as the Cessna Aircraft Company, which is, to this day, though owned by Textron Aviation, the largest private aircraft manufacturer in the United States.