Dwane Wallace
Dwane Leon Wallace (October 29, 1911 – December 21, 1989) was an American aviation businessman and
Early life
Dwane Wallace was raised in
One account describes Wallace as having made up his mind at age 10 to make his life in aviation.[8]
In his early adulthood, Wallace entered the
While at Wichita U., Wallace learned to fly from his uncle's test pilot, George Harte. He soloed in the
Early career
Upon his graduation, in May 1933, Wallace entered the workforce during the depths of the Great Depression. His uncle Clyde Cessna's enterprise had been taken over by its investors, and had closed its doors—ejecting Clyde and his son, Eldon Cessna.[8][9][10][13]
However, Wallace was able to find work assisting one of his uncle's former business partners, aviation pioneer
Takeover of Cessna Aircraft Co.
In 1934, following Beech's relocation out of the Cessna factory, Dwane, with lawyer-brother Dwight, approached their uncle Clyde with the idea of a proxy fight to try to regain control of Cessna Aircraft, reopen the factory, and resume aircraft development and production.[1][6][7][9][10]
Traveling the country to meet and persuade investors, and committing to them that the three family leaders would work with little or no pay, the Wallace brothers won the proxy fight. At a stockholders' meeting on January 10, 1934, they seized control of the company, with Clyde serving as figurehead president, while the Wallace brothers (Dwane as plant manager and engineer, Dwight as secretary-treasurer) ran the company.[1][4][5][6][9][10][12]
Clyde's son, Eldon (also an aeronautical engineer), remained at the company until a disagreement with Wallace over salary led to his departure in summer 1935. In December 1935, tired of aviation and longing for his old farm, Clyde sold his stock in the company to the Wallace brothers, though remained the figurehead president. Within about a year, in October 1936, shortly before Wallace's 25th birthday, Clyde resigned, leaving Wallace fully in charge.[4][9][10][12]
Cessna career
For the next four decades, Wallace would lead Cessna, transforming it from a small-but-noted maker of light planes into the world's foremost producer of such aircraft, and a major source of many other types of civilian and military aircraft, including jets.[4][5][6][9][10][13]
Throughout his career, Wallace was described as totally focused on the company. According to successor
Shyness notwithstanding, according to his long-time second-in-command, Del Roskam, Wallace was a "hands-on" manager, "a good people-person," who would tour the factory, meeting foremen and workers, and talking through problems with them personally.[10]
The Great Depression years
Starting in 1933, Wallace aided Clyde and Eldon Cessna in developing their CR-3 aircraft, a much-improved variant on the Cessna Model A series, and also produced older Cessna DC-6A cabin monoplanes.[8][9]
In 1934, Wallace, with help from Eldon and others, designed the
NOTE: Some controversy exists among historical accounts of the development of the C-34. Eldon Cessna, and historians acquainted with him, have credited its design to Eldon. However, most historical accounts (mostly produced by Cessna personnel or authors aided by the company while under the control of Dwane Wallace), credit the design to Wallace – some saying it originated in Wallace's mind while still in college, though Eldon Cessna is commonly credited with having been a contributing engineer, along with engineers Tom Salter and Gerry Gerteis.[1][4][6][8][9][10]
In addition to advancing the Cessna airplanes' reputation, and sales, exhibition flying at county fairs and major events, and trophy racing, also brought prize money, which helped keep the company solvent—making exhibition flying and racing necessary duties of Wallace's early Cessna career.[1][8][9][10][11]
The early years, during the Great Depression—while he took no salary—were reportedly extremely difficult for the company and Wallace, and photos of him at the time show an extremely gaunt man. One enduring legend says that at one point he only had five dollars in the company bank account.[9][10]
Wallace added aircraft maintenance services to the company's business activity by February 1935.[9]
In 1937, Wallace hired an executive secretary, Velma Lunt, in 1937, and married her in 1941. She became a licensed pilot, certified to fly multi-engine aircraft, and worked closely with Wallace for many years. The two remained married until Wallace's death. (Eventually the couple had four daughters: Linda, Karen, Diana and Sarah; the New York Times obituary calls the latter "Farah".[1][10][12])
In 1938, Wallace's review of twin-engined airplane market indicated opportunity for a new, inexpensive, light twin, and he began development of the
World War II
Under Wallace, the Cessna Aircraft Company survived until the early years of
Additional wartime contracts—making parts of other manufacturers' military planes, and assembling
During the war, Cessna became the first of Wichita's planemakers to win the Army-Navy "E" Award, an award for excellence given to only 3% of U.S. defense contractors. Cessna would win it a total of five times.[7][9][10]
Postwar years
Cessna re-entered the civilian plane market after World War II with a key advantage over most of its light-plane rivals: Cessna had the know-how and means to build all-metal light planes—an advantage accruing to Cessna from the company's rights to key metal-plane manufacturing technologies pioneered and patented by former Cessna Vice President Albin K. Longren, and Cessna's government-funded, wartime subcontracting work with large metal airplane sections.[7][12]
After the war, Wallace quickly developed an all-metal replacement of the C-34—the
Wallace then guided Cessna away from the pioneering un-braced
The 120/140's distinguishing feature, compared to other two-seaters of the time, was that it was one of the first all-metal light planes. Sleek, sturdy and modern, and cheaply mass-produced, the 120/140 largely devoured the market for two-seat light airplanes. In December 1946, Cessna produced almost as many planes as all its competitors combined. Most other U.S. light plane makers, by the early 1950s, were driven out of business by the 120/140 design, and by a long, postwar market recession. Cessna survived and prospered—stretching the 120/140 into the 4-seat Cessna 170 (which conquered its market segment, as well).[1][7][8][9][10][12]
When the postwar recession of the late 1940s and early 1950s wiped out most general aviation planemakers, Wallace diversified and survived adding an industrial division producing furniture and hydraulic equipment at a factory in Hutchinson, Kansas, He expanded the company's dealer network globally, and added a customer-finance division to the company, boosting sales substantially.[7][8][9]
Wallace, however, was slow to embrace the industry's shift towards nosewheel-equipped aircraft, replacing tailwheel-equipped planes, allowing rival Piper to recapture much of the light plane market with its
Starting in the late 1950s, Wallace added light twins to the Cessna line, and began the diversification of the Cessna line into almost every conceivable type and market.[7][10]
Wallace sought military subcontracting work, resulting in Cessna building major sections of various U.S. jet trainers, fighters and bombers, including the
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Wallace decided to diversify Cessna, acquiring
In 1964, to honor Cessna's international trade development, U.S. President
Along the way, under Wallace's guidance, Cessna produced "an airplane for every need"—almost every conceivable type of light-to-medium, single-engine and multi-engine aircraft—including:
Not all of Wallace's ventures were successful—most notably the four-engined
However, many Cessna aircraft types, developed under Wallace, became the world's most popular of their kind, including the world's most popular line of floatplanes, the world's most popular training airplane (
Wallace was president of Cessna Aircraft from 1935 to 1964, then advanced to chairman of the board. The company that he had revived from the brink of bankruptcy, in 1935, had become, by 1972, the first company in world history to manufacture over 100,000 airplanes.[1][12]
In 1972, Wallace led the industry movement to establish a trade organization for general aviation aircraft manufacturers, separate from the industry trade organizations for manufacturers of commercial and military aircraft. The new organization, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, selected founder Wallace as its first chairperson.[11][12]
Perhaps Wallace's most daring late-career venture was the first Cessna business jet, the
By the end of his tenure in office, Wallace's Cessna Aircraft Co. had out-produced every other civilian airplane maker in world history, with over 170,000 aircraft produced—ranging from fabric-skinned,
Retirement
In 1974, Wallace recruited aviation industry executive
Wallace quickly disappeared from the public eye, except for philanthropic activity (particularly in Wichita and for his alma mater, Wichita State University) with his wife Velma. However, he remained a consultant and director of the company well into the early 1980s, when he helped shape one of the company's most important aircraft, the Cessna 208 Caravan. His obituary in the New York Times reports that Wallace "severed his ties" with Cessna in 1983, following a dispute with his hand-picked successor, Meyer.[1][2][10][12]
Dwane Wallace died at age 78, after a lengthy illness, on December 21, 1989.[1][4]
Wallace had been a member of the Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Quiet Birdmen.[12]
Honors
- 1934 – DeSilva Trophy, Miami All-American AIr Races[9][10]
- 1936 – Argentine Trophy, Miami All-American AIr Races[9][10]
- 1936 – Detroit News Trophy, Miami All-American AIr Races[9]
- 1970 – Native Sons and Daughters' Kansan of the Year[11]
- 1975 – Daniel Guggenheim Medal for achievements in the advancement of flight (Wallace was the first person in general aviation to win the award)[11][12]
- 1981 – Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, reportedly the most prestigious award in U.S. aviation, for his "distinguished leadership, mechanical innovation, engineering management and public service contributing to the development of aviation in the United States."[2][12]
- 1990 – Enshrined in the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame in Wichita, Kansas[2]
- 2012 – Enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio[1]
- 2013 – Ranked No. 11 on Flying's list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation[3]
Although Wallace was the principal force in the transformation of Cessna from a tiny, struggling company into the world's largest-volume producer of aircraft, he kept his uncle's last name on the company, rather than naming it after himself. However, in the 1960s, the Wallace name was attached to the company's new factory building, at the municipal airport on Wichita's southwest side.[4][7][9][10]
Additionally, in 1979, the new main building of the College of Engineering at Wichita State University—his alma mater, which he had richly endowed—was named Wallace Hall for him.[11][12]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Wallace, Dwane Leon," enshrinement statement, 2013, National Aviation Hall of Fame, Dayton, OH.
- ^ a b c d e Wings Over Kansas: Aviation Hall of Fame Inductees
- ^ a b "51 Heroes of Aviation". 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Phillips, Edward H., "Dwane L. Wallace: Kansas Visionary," from Barnstorming Wichita's Aviation Past, at WingsOverKansas.com April 1, 2007. Retrieved September 8, 2016
- ^ a b c d Phillips, Edward H., "Clyde Cessna: Pioneer Aviator," from Barnstorming Wichita's Aviation Past, at WingsOverKansas.com August 29, 2007. Retrieved September 8, 2016
- ^ a b c d e f g Phillips, Edward H., "Cessna's Airmaster," from Barnstorming Wichita's Aviation Past, at WingsOverKansas.com August 24, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2016
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rowe, Frank J. (engineer) & Miner, Craig (history professor). Borne on the South Wind: A Century of Kansas Aviation, 1994, Wichita Eagle & Beacon Publishing Co., Wichita.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Parke, Robert B. (Publisher), "Wallace" Flying Magazine, 50th anniversary special edition, Sept. 1977, p.257
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Deneau, Gerald (Administrative Engineer, Commercial Aircraft Division, Cessna Aircraft Co.), An Eye to the Sky, 1962, Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, KS (semi-official company history, with exceptional detail and unusual candor about some products)
- ^ ISBN 978-1932022261. (Cessna-sponsored history, mostly derivative of others' writings, including those listed above)
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Dwane L. Wallace" in Kansapedia, June 2013; rev. December 2014, Kansas Historical Society, Topeka, KS.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Fowler, Glenn, "Obituary: Dwane L. Wallace, 78, Is Dead; Pioneer Leader at Cessna Aircraft,", December 23, 1989, The New York Times
- ^ Herb Rawdon, Walter Burnham, and other principals).
- ^ "Meyer" in "Men of the Future," Flying Magazine, 50th anniversary special edition, Sept. 1977, p.369
Further reading
- OCLC 13522983
- ISBN 0911139052
- OCLC 32516985
- Christy, Joe; revised by Brian J. Dooley, A Complete Guide to Single-Engine Cessnas, , 4th.ed., 1993, TAB/McGraw-Hill, New York