[6] Throughout its history, and especially in the years following World War II, Cessna became best known for producing small, high-wing, piston aircraft.

Cessna started his wood-and-fabric aircraft ventures in Enid, Oklahoma, testing many of his early planes on the salt flats.

The plane won the 1933 American Air Race in Chicago and later set a new world speed record for engines smaller than 500 cubic inches by averaging 237 mph (381 km/h).

The approach was to introduce a new line of all-metal aircraft that used production tools, dies and jigs, rather than the hand-built tube-and-fabric construction process used before the war.

[13] During the post-World War II era, Cessna was known as one of the "Big Three" in general aviation aircraft manufacturing, along with Piper and Beechcraft.

[15][16][17] In 1960, Cessna acquired McCauley Industrial Corporation, of Ohio, a leading manufacturer of propellers for light aircraft.

[18] McCauley became the world's leading producer of general aviation aircraft propellers,[19] largely through their installation on Cessna airplanes.

Cessna reported that the decision was made to save money and also that the company had no more plant capacity in the United States at the time.

In early 2009, the company attracted further criticism for continuing plans to build the 162 in China while laying off large numbers of workers in the United States.

"While the economic slowdown has created a difficult business environment, we are encouraged by brisk activity from new and existing propeller fleet operators placing almost 200 orders for 2009 production aircraft," Pelton stated.

Other cuts included 200 at the Independence, Kansas, plant that builds the single-engined Cessnas and the Mustang, reducing that facility to 1,300 workers.

The company reported, "Upon additional analysis of the business jet market related to this product offering, we decided to formally cancel further development of the Citation Columbus".

[38][39] In early June 2009, Cessna laid off an additional 700 salaried employees, bringing the total number of lay-offs to 7,600, which was more than half the company's workers at the time.

Half of Cessna's workforce remained laid-off and CEO Jack Pelton stated that he expected the recovery to be long and slow.

Pelton added, "our strategy is to defend and protect our current markets while investing in products and services to secure our future, but we can do this only if we succeed in restructuring our processes and reducing our costs.

[46] In September 2011, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a US$2.4 million fine against the company for its failure to follow quality assurance requirements while producing fiberglass components at its plant in Chihuahua, Mexico.

The failure to follow procedures resulted in the delamination in flight of a 7 ft (2.1 m) section of one Cessna 400's wing skin from the spar while the aircraft was being flown by an FAA test pilot.

"[48][49] In late April 2012, the company added 150 workers in Wichita as a result of anticipated increased demand for aircraft production.

[51] Cessna marketing terminology includes: In October 2020, Textron Aviation was producing the following Cessna-branded models:[54]