Following his successful tour of Kansas, Cessna returned to Oklahoma in November 1913 and made a number of flights there, including one at Enid on Thanksgiving Day. It was among his last flights at Enid, for in late December he moved his family, equipment and two airplanes back north to his 40-acre farm near Adams, Kan.

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Cessna designed and constructed a third monoplane during the winter and installed an Anzani six-cylinder, 60-hp, air-cooled, static radial engine that turned a wood propeller nearly 84 inches in diameter. Cessna was able to buy the power plant because of the profitable 1913 exhibition season.

He flew the airplane in June 1914, and quickly realized how much improvement in performance and reliability the Anzani provided compared to its Elbridge predecessor. As a result, Cessna began flying the airplane cross-country to each town instead of shipping it by rail as he had done with Silverwing. Maximum speed for the Anzani-powered monoplane was about 90 mph.

Clyde booked at least 25 flights that summer in nearly a dozen towns. The 1915 flying season was equally profitable.

In one eight-day span, Cessna flew the ship more than 800 miles, traveling from town to town and making exhibition flights. In July 1916, he crashed near Adams, Kan., damaging the aircraft and injuring himself, but three weeks later he was back in the air.

Although flying the show circuit was lucrative, Cessna was becoming increasingly optimistic that a market existed–albeit a tiny one–for personal aircraft and pleasure flying. In August 1916, he was invited to move to Wichita and establish an aircraft factory and flying school. The driving force behind the offer was J.J. Jones, Clyde's friend of many years and the builder of the Light Six automobile. Jones and other local businessmen, including Jack Turner (who would play a pivotal role in Wichita's aviation future), agreed to provide Cessna with a vacant building at the Jones factory. A large, flat expanse of virgin prairie adjacent to the facility would serve as a flying field.

In September 1916, the city's Aero Club announced that Wichita had its own aviator and would soon have its first airplane factory and flying school. Nearly 40 people expressed an interest in becoming aviators, including Jack Turner, who was quick to approach Clyde and Roy Cessna about building a special monoplane expressly for his own use.

Although there was no incorporation, no stockholders and no capital investment, the Cessna brothers were supported by a handful of businessmen. With their business now known as the Cessna Aeroplane Exhibition Company, Clyde and Roy would continue to book flying exhibitions in addition to manufacturing monoplanes.

Clyde Cessna flew at the Cowley County Fair that September, thrilling spectators with "fancy tricks in the sky" such as figure eights and circles, and climbs and descents. Unlike many other exhibition pilots, Cessna was exceedingly conservative in the air. He refused to perform aerobatic maneuvers such as the loop and roll, and he abhorred bloodthirsty feats like the "dive of death" that brought crowds to their feet and was said to cause women to faint outright. He viewed pilots who did such antics as unproductive and detrimental to the development of an aviation industry in America.

To help promote Cessna's relocation to Wichita, officials of the 1916 Wheat Exposition gave Clyde top billing during the week-long event. The aircraft factory was open to the public, and as his brothers Roy and Noel gave tours through the building, Clyde stood outside beside the monoplane and answered torrents of questions from would-be aviators.

World War I had increased public interest in airplanes and flying, and the upcoming 1917 exhibition season promised to be the most profitable to date. Clyde estimated the company would need at least two monoplanes to handle the demand. In addition, he was planning a spring or summer flight from Wichita to New York City. Bold as the endeavor was, Clyde Cessna was confident he could design and build an airplane capable of making the flight.

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