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a bubble-type canopy enclosing a cockpit featuring side- by-side seating for the instructor and student. Wingspan was reduced slightly and the wings, empennage and fuselage were covered in plywood. Aluminum alloys were used to construct the engine nacelles and cowlings for the two Jacobs L6MB radial engines, each producing 300 horsepower.
As with the P-7, Cessna engineers used a modified version of the AT-6’s main landing gear to support the heavier P-10 on the ground. On October 6, 1940, Mort Brown climbed into the P-10’s cockpit and took the ship up for its first flight. He noted that the airplane had excellent visibility from the cockpit and very good performance compared to the AT-8. More flight tests followed until late that year when Brown turned over responsibility for flying the P-10 to Carl Winstead, another company pilot and long-time member of Wichita’s aviation fraternity. Unfortunately, the Army Air Corps was not interested in the P-10 because it had a sufficient number of training aircraft on order through 1944, and no contracts were forthcoming. According to Cessna Aircraft Company records, the airplane was dismantled at the factory in October 1941 and, as with the P-7, disappeared.
One other important story about Wichita during the war centers on Cessna’s participation in the U.S. Army’s quest to assemble a large force of combat gliders. In 1942 the Allies began planning for “Operation Overlord” – invasion of Hitler’s “Fortress Europe.” An important part of that highly complex plan was the use of gliders to airlift troops and equipment behind enemy lines. The glider of choice was the Waco CG-4, designed by the Waco Aircraft Company located in Troy, Ohio. In June, Wichita received orders to help build the aircraft and commanded to give the work top priority. Delivery of more than 700 gliders was to be accomplished by October.1
Cessna Aircraft Company’s role was building the outer wing panels. To accomplish that task on time, a special factory boasting 108,000 square feet was erected in only 30 days near Hutchinson, Kansas, 50 miles northwest of Wichita. Beech Aircraft Corporation was assigned responsibility for the inner wing panels. Beech and Cessna delivered their assemblies to the Boeing-Wichita Division that retained overall responsibility for the program. The gliders were assembled and delivered to the U.S. Army as scheduled and played their part well in the early morning
FEBRUARY 2021
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 27