In the early 1900s, Kansas farm boy Clyde Cessna was one of the many young men whose imagination was captured by the Wright brothers' first flight and the brand new field of aviation.

So, in 1911, he taught himself to fly. In the next seven years, Cessna earned a reputation as an accomplished and daring exhibition pilot.

In 1925, he teamed up with Walter Beech and Lloyd Stearman to form the Travel Air Manufacturing Company, which built biplanes. He stayed with the company only two years before leaving to concentrate his manufacturing efforts on monoplanes.

His airplane business was hit hard by the Great Depression, and for a time Cessna stopped production. But, in 1933, Cessna and his nephews Dwane and Dwight Wallace reopened the factory. The business got off the ground quickly, in time to furnish military planes during the war.

Today, Cessna sells more light and mid?size business jets than all other companies combined.