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I am sure you realize that our stock is practi­ cally worthless today. A complete liquidation would pay only a very small percent back on our original investments, while if you cooperate with me, the Cessna Aircraft Company will again be doing a good business and our stock on the market rise accordingly. I am enclosing another proxy in case you did not receive or have misplaced the other one, and I will appreciate your executing the same and returning it to me in the self­addressed envelope, which is enclosed.
Although Cessna did not compose the letter, he did agree to sign each one, “Very Truly Yours, Clyde V. Cessna.” The Wallace boys knew they had a tough fight ahead of them. Dwane followed up the letters by visiting each person in Wichita who held more than 100 shares of stock, assuring them that the time was right for Cessna airplanes and that their support would result in profits later. It was not, however, only the shareholders who had to be convinced. Dwane and Dwight knew they had to buy thousands of shares of stock if they were going to win the battle. Wichita investor Thad Carver held more than 20,000 shares, Clyde Cessna had 12,000, and the brothers were able to buy 6,000 shares from the Clement M. Keys brokerage firm in New York City.
At the annual shareholders meeting held on January 17, 1934, the votes were counted and the Wallace boys
had won, albeit by only a tiny margin. The two young men soon forged ahead with ambitious plans to manufacture the first new Cessna design since the DC-6 of 1929 – the Model C-34 cabin monoplane. Dwane did a majority of the engineering work, but was ably assisted by engineer Jerry Gerteis and Tom Salter. The prototype C-34, powered by a Warner Series 40/50 static, air-cooled radial engine rated at 145 horsepower, rolled out of the factory and into the Kansas sunlight on August 10, and made its first flight that day with George Harte at the controls.
Sales were slow, but the C-34 soon proved that it was a highly efficient airplane and orders increased throughout 1935-1936. Priced at $4,985 for a standard-equipped airplane, the C-34 was affordable and 42 were built before the company introduced an improved version known as the C-37. The factory workers built 46 of those ships before production switched in 1938 to the upgraded C-38, of which 16 were built (the C-38 was the first version to be named Airmaster). In late 1938, the company introduced the Model C-145 and Model C-165 that remained in production until 1941. A total of 79 were built. Despite the solid success of the single-engine series, Dwane Wallace and the board of directors knew the company needed to expand its product line and in 1939 the twin-engine Model T-50 was flown for the first time in March 1939. Powered by two Jacobs L4MB static, air-cooled radial engines each rated at 225 horsepower,
JUNE 2016 KING AIR MAGAZINE • 21