On September 13, 1911, Clyde Cessna suffered his worst crackup. Flying Silverwing early in the morning, he was attempting a three-mile odyssey that was to include a course reversal at the 11ž2-mile point and a return for landing.

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Takeoff was uneventful. The Elbridge engine roared along, leaving a wispy trail of smoke behind. Cessna was concentrating on the hardest part of the flight–the turn. He had little knowledge of the forces of flight acting on the aircraft during a turn, and that fact, coupled with the plane’s antiquated wing-warping mechanism, the anemic Elbridge and the unpredictable winds, made turns a risky proposition.

As he banked Silverwing to the right, a gust of wind struck the ship and lifted the left wing. Cessna immediately made quick control inputs to warp the left wing’s trailing edge upward in an effort to level the craft, but the gust was too strong for the ineffective wing-warping system. The left wing rose sharply. As the airplane rolled through 90 degrees of bank, Cessna knew he had completely lost control. He thought only of trying to save himself.

With the ship nearly inverted and descending rapidly, Cessna waited until the last moment and jumped from the cockpit. Silverwing smashed into the ground upside down. Wood cracked, fabric ripped, wires snapped and the Elbridge was silenced. As for the pilot, he hit the ground hard, too. Although injured, Cessna managed to get up and walk away from the crash site. And in a month’s time, he had recovered from his injuries.

Clyde Cessna and his brother Roy then rebuilt and modified the Queen monoplane into an improved aircraft. In addition to minor airframe improvements, the landing gear was revised and the Elbridge power plant was overhauled. Unfortunately, Clyde crashed the ship on its first test flight, breaking the right wing.

The airplane was again repaired, and on December 17, 1911, Clyde Cessna took off from the Val Johnson farm near Enid and flew five miles in seven minutes, made numerous turns and landed at the same place where he had taken off. The flight marked Cessna’s first truly successful aerial excursion. After spending thousands of dollars and nearly a year of his life learning to be an aviator, Clyde boasted to Enid newspaper reporters, “You see, boys, Cessna can fly!”

Confident that he was ready to perform exhibition flying and recoup his investment, Cessna further modified his airplane during the winter months of 1912. In April, he flew eight miles at Enid and was pleased with his piloting ability and the monoplane’s performance.

He formed the Cessna Exhibition Company to handle all contracts for flying. The business had its headquarters at Enid, but a branch office also was established in Rago, Kan. The Pond Creek Boosters Club was among the first to sign Clyde to a flying contract. He was obligated to fly for a minimum of five minutes during the Fourth of July celebration–without crashing. If successful, upon landing he would receive 75 percent of the gate receipts in cash.

The wind blew strong on July 4, however, and it was 8 p.m. before the gale subsided enough for Clyde to attempt a flight. Anxious to prove his mettle and earn some much-needed cash, he took off without incident but crashed after losing control of the machine. Unhurt, frustrated but determined to succeed, Cessna packed up the damaged aircraft and went home empty-handed.

Major repairs were quickly completed, and Cessna was back in the flying business a month later. He signed a contract to fly at Kremlin, Okla., on August 14, and the aviator from Enid stayed aloft for six minutes and landed safely, earning $200 for his efforts and delighting the crowd.

In September he flew at the Old Settler’s Reunion Celebration at Jet, and for the first time in Cessna’s brief career, the weather cooperated. There was almost no wind. He was performing a figure eight in the sky when a leaking fuel tank forced him to land. The plane was undamaged, but Clyde’s profits suffered.

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