Viewing page 10 of 31

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Clyde V. (Vernon) Cessna 
Pioneer Plane Builder - Aviator - Founder of Cessna Aircraft Company 

[stamped] FLYING PIONEERS BIOGRAPHIES OF HAROLD E. MOREHOUSE [/stamped]

Clyde V. Cessna was born at Hawthorne, Iowa, December 5, 1879. When he was about one year old the family moved to a farm near Rago, Kansas where he grew up doing farm work and attending nearby schools.

[image]

Mechanically inclined, he learned to service and operate farm machinery, including grain threshers. Later his interest turned to automobiles, first in mechanical and service work, then he discovered he could sell, and by 1910 was head of the Overland Automobile  Agency at Enid, Oklahoma. There he sold over one hundred cars and thoroughly established himself. 

Late that year Cessna learned that the Moisant International Aviators were to make [strikethrough] aeroplane [/strikethrough] airplane flights at Oklahoma City [strikethrough] Oklahoma [/strikethrough] on [strikethrough] January 14th to 18th 1911 and decided to attend [/strikethrough]. There he saw French pilots Rene Barrier, Rene Simon and Roland Garros, and American Charles K. Hamilton flying. All the Frenchman used Bleriot-type monoplanes [strikethrough] and [strikethrough] while Hamilton [insert] flew [/insert] a Curtiss biplane. The troupe also staged races between a Fiat automobile, driven by Joe Seymour, and their planes in flight. Barrier made some 15-minute cross-country trips while there.

Cessna was very interested, and determined [insert] that [/insert] he would build a plane and

1

(left margin)
Keep office copy with Cessna Co. notes 
Our records show FEB. 11, 1911 - but I have no proof of this date. 
yes

Transcription Notes:
Stamp on top of the page says Flying Pioneers Biographies of Harold E. Morehouse not sure if it supposes to be included