At age four, Eldon Cessna saw his father, Clyde Cessna, design, build and fly airplanes on their farm in Rago, Kansas. His father built one plane every winter from 1911 until 1917, when the “exhibition flying boom” ended. Eldon experienced his first airplane race in the mid-1920’s flying the “New Laird Swallow.” At the inception of Cessna Aircraft Company in 1927, Eldon became chief engineer and test pilot. Although the Depression brought the Cessna Company to a standstill from 1930 to 1934, Eldon continued to design, build and fly more than 20 models of aircraft. In 1935, Eldon left for California, and North American Aviation, where he built post-World War II rocket engines and Apollo moon landing modules. He retired to El Segundo, California in 1969 where he remained active in the Early Birds of Aviation and the OX-5 Aviation Pioneers organizations.