The air capital.docVIP

The Air Capital of the World[edit] In the 20th century, aircraft pioneers such as Clyde Cessna and Walter Beech began projects that led to Wichitas establishment as the Air Capital of the World. The aircraft corporations Stearman, Cessna, Mooney, and Beechcraft were all founded in Wichita in the late 1920s and early 1930s.[12][13][20][21] In 1914 and 1915, oil was discovered nearby and Wichita became a major oil center. The money derived from oil allowed local entrepreneurs to invest in a nascent airplane industry. In 1917 the Cessna Comet became the first aircraft to be built in Wichita.[12] [13][21][22] In 1920, oilmen Jacob M. Jake Mollendick and Billy Burke invited young Chicago barnstormer and aircraft builder Emil Matthew Matty Laird to come to Wichita to build his new airplane design, backed by their money. The Laird Swallow became an instant success, the first successful commercial airplane manufactured in the United States; Laird built 43 of them between 1920 and 1923. When Matty Laird returned to Chicago, the Wichita enterprise was renamed Swallow Airplane Company. Lloyd Stearman and Walter Beech were both employees of the Swallow Company, but in January 1925 they left Swallow and teamed up with Clyde Cessna to form Travel Air. Stearman left Travel Air in 1926 to start Stearman Aircraft in Venice, California, and Cessna quit in January 1927 to start Cessna. In 1927 Stearman would relocate his factory back to Wichita.[12][13][20][21][22] This varied aircraft industry, along with Wichita becoming a test center for new aviation, established Wichita as the Air Capital of the World. The title was more or less officially accorded to Wichita in 1929 (for 1928 production), by the American airplane manufacturers national trade association, then known as the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce.[23][24] Travel Air, with Walter Beech at the helm, grew to over 600 employees and operated from a huge factory complex constructed a few miles outside the city from 1927 to 1929