Kansas Aviation: The rolling plains of Kansas ensure that the sky is a huge part of the visual landscape. Maybe it is only natural that a thriving aviation industry sprung up here almost as soon as the invention of powered flight. Kansas farmers had already been tinkering with complex agricultural machinery for generations by the time of the Wright Brothers’ 1903 breakthrough. Some of the first planes in the state were built by farmers in barns during the off season. By the 1920s, planes had been proven to be more than just dangerous gizmos. The city of Wichita had 16 airplane manufacturers during the first aviation boom of the 1920s. The City declared itself Air Capital of the World in 1928, and it was truly deserving of the title. While the Great Depression may have taken out some of the smaller manufactures, Kansas aviation powered through the 1930s. This building was built in 1935 to house Wichita Municipal Airport, and by that time Cessna, Beechcraft, and Boeing-Stearman had emerged as the major players in Kansas Aviation.
E.M. Laird Airplane Company was formed in Wichita, in 1920, by Matty Laird and Jake Moellendick. The group’s first airplane, the Wichita Tractor, was renamed when a young man observing the test flight remarked, “She flies like a swallow, boys.” From that point on, the plane was known as the Laird Swallow and is considered to be the first commercially produced aircraft in the U.S. Only 43 copies were built. In disagreement with Moellendick on business matters, Laird left Swallow and moved back to Chicago in 1923 with the stipulation that his name not be used with the aircraft product name. Moellendick, as president, renamed the company The Swallow Airplane Manufacturing Company and hired Lloyd Stearman as chief engineer and Walter Beech as general manager. Beech and Stearman left the company in 1924 after Moellendick refused to consider using steel tubing for air frames. They joined with Clyde Cessna and Walter Innes, in January of 1925, to form the Travel Air Company.
The Travel Air Manufacturing Company was formed in 1925 by Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna, and Lloyd Stearman. The company quickly dominated the aviation market, and by 1928, Travel Air had already become the largest airplane manufacturer in the United States. Wichita’s claim to the ‘Air Capital of the World’ title hinged on impressive output of Travel Air. The company’s planes outperformed the competition in most of the major air races of the era. Travel Air’s most last impact can be seen in its descendant companies. After a 1929 buyout by Curtiss-
Wright, Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna, and Lloyd Stearman all started their own companies. These three companies ensured the Wichita would be the dominant force in general aviation throughout the 20th century.
The Cessna Aircraft Company was started by Clyde Cessna in 1927 after his departure from Travel Air. Clyde started his aviation journey years earlier in 1911 on his farm in Rago, Kansas. Inspired by the French inventor Louis Bleriot, Cessna created a plane out of spruce, linen, and a motorboat engine. In 1917, Cessna began manufacturing planes on a large scale, making him a logical business partner for the formation of the Travel Air Manufacturing Company in 1925. Clyde only stayed with the company for two years before he left to start his own company. The 1929 stock market crash hit airplane sales hard. Feeling the challenges of the Great Depression, the Cessna Company ceased production in 1931. Clyde’s nephew Dwane Wallace revived the production in 1934, and would run the company after Clyde’s retirement. Just 25 at the time of his take over, Wallace would oversee decades of immense growth for the company, particularly during the Second World War. The US Army Air Corps ordered so many T-50 Bobcats from Cessna that the company grew from 200 employees in 1940 to 6,000 by the end of the war. Under the leadership of Dwane Wallace, the Cessna Company dominated the general aviation market. Cessna planes were exported around the world, where they were known for their durability and versatility. For much of the Twentieth Century Cessna made more planes than any other company, and the iconic Cessna 172 still stands as the best-selling aircraft of all time.
Walter Beech worked for both the Laird Swallow Company and the Travel Air Manufacturing Company before he started Beechcraft in 1932. While Walter brought aviation experience to the new company, it was his wife Olive Ann Beech that brought the business savvy. The Beech family worked together to release their first plane, the model 17 ‘Staggerwing.’ The Staggerwing was followed by the Beech 18
Lloyd Stearman was an aircraft mechanic with the Laird Airplane Company in Wichita, in the early 1920s. Then in 1925, Stearman joined with Walter Beech and Clyde Cessna to start the Travel Air Manufacturing Company. The short-lived company quickly became the nation’s premier airplane manufacturer, but Lloyd moved to Venice, California to start his own manufacturing company in 1926. In 1929, the Stearman Company was sold to United Aircraft and Transport Company, a massive conglomerate that included Pratt & Whitney as well as Boeing. In 1930, Stearman built a manufacturing plant next to the old Wichita Municipal Airport (which now houses this museum). In 1934, trust busting government policies broke up the United monopoly, and Stearman became a division of the Boeing Company. The Wichita-based Stearman Company continued to release planes under the ‘Boeing Stearman’ name for a number of years. During WWII the Boeing Stearman factory produced B-29 bombers, and in the Cold War period Boeing Wichita produced B-47 and B-52 bombers as well.
The Learjet Company was started by William “Bill” Lear as Swiss American Aviation Corporation in Altenrhein, Switzerland. In 1962 Lear relocated his company to Wichita, Kansas and changed the name to Learjet. Lear was frustrated by the slow pace of his Swiss team, and believed that working in an aviation center like Wichita would speed up his project. The new Wichita-based team developed the Learjet 23 in October of 1963. As the first mass produced private jet, the Learjet 23 found itself the first product in a new market. Lear personally promoted the idea of a private jet by taking celebrities on rides in his new jet design. The company was soon joined by competition in the private jet area, but it had already established itself as the luxury brand. In 1990, Canadian company Bombardier Aerospace purchased Learjet, and in 2022 the last jet to carry the Learjet name was delivered.