Dwane Wallace

Dwane Leon Wallace (October 29, 1911 – December 21, 1989) was an American aviation businessman and aircraft designer. He served as the president and chairman of the board of the Cessna Aircraft Company from 1935 until the 1970s, continuing then on the board as a director and consultant into the 1980s. Later known as the "Quiet Giant of Aviation", Wallace oversaw the company during a period of rapid and expansive growth within the general aviation industry, including development of the most-produced aircraft in history, the Cessna 172, as well as the popular Cessna Citation I business jet. He was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2012, and was included in Flying Magazines list of the "51 Heroes of Aviation" in 2013, placing at number 11.

Early life Dwane Wallace was raised in Belmont, Kansas. He and his brothers Deane and Dwight, and sister Doreen, were children of Grace Opal and physician Dr. Eugene Wallace. Grace's brother was aviation pioneer Clyde Vernon Cessna, founder of Cessna Aircraft Company. Cessna became the first planemaker-aviator of the Great Plains in the year Dwane was born, and gave the brothers their first airplane ride in an OX-5 Swallow in 1924.

One account describes Wallace as having made up his mind at age 10 to make his life in aviation.

However, Wallace was able to find work assisting one of his uncle's former business partners, aviation pioneer Walter Beech, at the newly formed Beech Aircraft Corporation in Wichita—which, ironically, was operating from rented space in the closed Cessna factory. Wallace assisted the development of the Beech Model 17 "Staggerwing" biplane, one of the more advanced aircraft of its time.

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.

Dwane Wallace died at age 78, after a lengthy illness, on December 21, 1989.

Wallace had been a member of the Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Quiet Birdmen.

Honors

1934 – DeSilva Trophy, Miami All-American AIr Races 1936 – Argentine Trophy, Miami All-American AIr Races 1936 – Detroit News Trophy, Miami All-American AIr Races 1970 – Native Sons and Daughters' Kansan of the Year 1975 – Daniel Guggenheim Medal for achievements in the advancement of flight (Wallace was the first person in general aviation to win the award) 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." 1990 – Enshrined in the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame in Wichita, Kansas 2012 – Enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio 2013 – Ranked No. 11 on Flyings list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation

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.

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.