The Cessna Model A is a 1920s

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

high-wing four-seat tourer built by the

Cessna Aircraft Company Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing c ...

, the first in a long line of high-wing single-engined monoplanes.

Design and development

The first Cessna design built in any numbers was the Cessna Model A, a four-seater with a mixed wood and steel-tube construction with fabric covering. The aircraft was built in a number of variants fitted with different engines. The prototype (Model AC) first flew in 1927 and the first production aircraft appeared in the following year.

Variants

;Model AA :Fitted with a 120 hp (89 kW)

Anzani 10 The Anzani 10 was a 1913 10-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engine. It powered several experimental aircraft and also the later production versions of the Caudron G.3 reconnaissance aircraft, the Caudron G.4 bomber/trainer and the first pr ...

engine, 14 built. ;Model AC :Fitted with a 130 hp (97 kW)

Comet 7-RA The Comet 7-cylinder radials were a family of air-cooled radial engines, designed and built by the Comet Engine Corporation at Madison, Wisconsin from around 1927. Design and development Comet designed the 7-cylinder radial series to take advan ...

engine, one built. ;Model AF :Fitted with a 150 hp (112 kW) Floco/Axelson engine, three built. ;Model AS :Fitted with a 125 hp (93 kW)

Siemens-Halske Siemens & Halske AG (or Siemens-Halske) was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens. It was founded on 12 October 1847 as ''Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske'' by Werner von Siemens and Johann Geo ...

engine, four built. ;Model AW :Fitted with a 125 hp (93 kW)

Warner Scarab The Warner Scarab is an American seven-cylinder radial aircraft engine, that was manufactured by the Warner Aircraft Corporation of Detroit, Michigan in 1928 through to the early 1940s. In military service the engine was designated R-420. Vari ...

engine, 48 built. One was purchased by

Eddie August Schneider Eddie August Henry Schneider (October 20, 1911 – December 23, 1940) was an American aviator who set three transcontinental airspeed records for pilots under the age of twenty-one in 1930. His plane was a Cessna Model AW with a Warner-Scar ...

in which he set three transcontinental airspeed records for pilots under the age of twenty-one in 1930. ;Model BW :A three-seat version with a 220 hp (164 kW)

Wright J-5 The Wright R-790 Whirlwind was a series of nine-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical Corporation, with a total displacement of about and around . These engines were the earliest members of the Wright Whirlwin ...

engine, 13 built.

Specifications (Cessna AA)

Design and development

Variants

Specifications (Cessna AA)

References

Further reading