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which in 1923 became the Swallow Aeroplane Company. Cessna had evidently continued his flying to some extent during this period and was at the Bartlesville, Oklahoma air meet September 1st and 2d, flying an OX-powered Swallow biplane.
Toward the end of 1924 Walter Beech and Lloyd Stearman resigned from the Swallow Company and planned to stat another firm. Early in 1925 they approaced Cessna and offered him the presidency of their new venture if he would join them. As a result the Travel Air Company was formed in Wichita on February 5th, 1925 with Cessna as President, Walter Beech, Vice-President and Lloyd Stearman, Chief Engineer. Their first Travel Air, a 3-seat biplane, was completed that spring. Powered by a 90 H.P. OX engine, it had 33 feet span upper wing, 29 feet lower and weighed 1,200 pounds. On test it gave a fine performance and showed good load carrying ability. Walter Beech flew one in the Ford Tour that year and by the end of 1925 nineteen planes had been built and sold.
In 1926 they made 46 planes, but by the end of the year Cessna and Beech openly disagreed on plane types. Cessna had always favored monoplanes while Beech insisted on biplanes. Toward the end of 1926 Cessna built a 4-place externally braced cabin monoplane powered by a 120 H.O. Anzani engine, away from the factory and at his own expense, to satisfy his personal desire. He succeeded in interesting Beech in this plane and after demonstrating it to National Air Transport an order was obtained for several planes of this type. As a result Travel Air started to build an externally braced monoplane, powered by a Wright J-5 engine. It was successful and soon Travel Air monoplanes established several noteworthy records, including some of the first trans-Pacific flights, but the majority of the firm's production remained biplanes.
In the spring of 1927 Cessna wanted to build a full cantilever Travel Air monoplane, but Beech would not agree and as a result Cessna sold his stock to Beech in April and resigned from the company. He bought a shop in Wichita and at once started work on a 4-place, full cantilever cabin monoplane, powered by a 120 H.P. Anzani engine.
Called the Comet, it was ready for tests by mid-summer. Highly successful 
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