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The Cessna 150 & 152
Founder Clyde Cessna built his first
airplane in 1911, and taught himself
to fly it! He went on to build a
number of innovative airplanes,
including several race and award
winning designs. In 1934, Clyde's
nephew, Dwane Wallace, fresh out of
college, took over as head of the
company. During the depression years
Dwane acted as everything from floor
sweeper to CEO, even personally flying
company planes in air races (several
of which he won!) Under Wallace's
leadership, the Cessna Aircraft
Company eventually became the most
successful general aviation company of
all time.
Cessna first began production of two
seat light planes in 1946 with the
model 120 which had an all aluminium
fuselage and fabric covered wings.
This was followed by a nearly
identical model 140, with aluminium
clad wings. More than 7,000 model
120-140's were sold. Cessna stopped
production of the 140 in 1951 in order
to focus on four seat aircraft.
In 1957 the company decided there was
a market for a tri geared version of
the Model 140. Following their
standard tailwheel/tricycle naming
convention, Cessna named the new
airplane the Cessna 142. Six days
later, for reasons now unknown, it
was renamed it the Cessna 150. A total
of 683 C150's were built between 1957
and 1959, all were sold as 1959
models.
In 1966
Cessna restyled the airplane, adding a
jaunty slant to the tail. The new
style was enormously popular with
pilots. Cessna made and sold 3,000
model 150's that year, the most of any
year in the airplane's history. That
year Cessna also began assembly of
150's at Reims Aviation in France. A
total of 2,452 planes were built by
Reims, including 47 assembled in
Argentina.
The 150 standard engine is a four
cylinder 100 horsepower Continental
model 0-200. During it's 18 year
production history there were many
changes to the 150 airframe and
configuration.
In 1970 Cessna introduced the model
150 "Aerobat" which became very
popular in the Aerobatic training
market, and remains a popular sport
airplane.
In 1978 Cessna introduced a revised
model, the 152, with a 110 horsepower
Lycoming 0-235 engine. The Lycoming
was chosen to make the 152 more
tolerant of the newer High Lead 100LL
octane fuel, as well as provide a long
overdue increase in horsepower. The
cabin was also widened slightly to
make room for the increased girth of
late 20th century pilots. Unlike the
Model 150, there were few changes in
152's from one year to the next.
By the end of production in 1985,
31,533
Cessna 150-152's had been
manufactured worldwide. More pilots
have flown Cessna 150-152's than any
other single model of airplane.
Because of product liability exposure,
like most other light plane companies
in the US, Cessna stopped building
light aircraft all together in the mid
1980's. The last Model 152 rolled off
the production line in 1985.
Total Number of Cessna 150's
Manufactured: 23,948
Total Number of Cessna 152's
Manufactured:
7,585
Known Number of Cessna 150-152's
Currently Registered in North America:
19,877
Known Number of Cessna 150-152's
Currently Registered Elsewhere:
2,869*
specifications performance
|
Year |
1959 |
1966 |
1977 |
|
Base Price |
$6,995 |
$6,995 |
$13,950 |
|
Top Speed |
108
kts |
109
kts |
109
kts |
|
Rate of Climb |
740fpm |
670fpm |
670fpm |
|
Max Range |
548
nm |
491
nm |
420
nm |
|
Service Ceiling |
15,300 |
12,650 |
14,000 |
|
Gross Weight |
1,500 |
1,600 |
1,600 |
|
Useful Load |
538 |
540 |
471 |
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