AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2015 - 32

PILOT BRIEFING
2015 SWEEPSTAKES

|

'As good as
it gets'
Cessna 152 origins
B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N

THE "REIMAGINED" AOPA 2015
SWEEPSTAKES 152 was built

on an overly optimistic forecast. At the end of World War
II, aviation analysts predicted a
massive general aviation boom
that would keep aircraft manufacturers busy for decades. In
addition to two cars in every
garage, they anticipated an
airplane at every hangar and
tie-down.
Cessna raced to meet
the predicted demand with
its two-seat Model 140 and
stripped-down Model 120, and
pumped out 6,000 of the sideby-side tailwheel airplanes
from 1946 through 1948. The
company replaced the fabric-covered, constant-chord
wings on those models with a
new, all-aluminum wing and
increased the maximum gross
weight 50 pounds (to 1,500
pounds) in the 140A.
The 140A wing had taper
outboard of the wing strut
attachment, and a single strut
that met the main spar instead
of the V-strut that had connected to the front and rear
spars of the 140 and 120. Cessna
built 525 140As between 1949
and 1951-and the 140A wing
32 | AOPA PILOT February 2015

should look familiar, because
its shape and airfoil are identical to the trainers that would
follow.
The flight training market was growing in the late
1950s when Cessna launched
its Model 150. This updated
version had a tricycle (not tailwheel) landing gear; rectangular
(not round) tail surfaces, and a
100-horsepower Continental
engine (instead of 85- or
90-horsepower versions). The
hinged flap also was replaced
with a larger slotted flap that
could droop a full 40 degrees.
But there was some disagreement about what to call
the airplane. "The 170 became
the 172 and the 180 became the
182 when they went to tricycle
landing gear," said Joe Latas,
who retired from Cessna 12
years ago after 50 years as an
engineer and chief aerodynamicist. "We called the new model
the 152 at first. But then it got
changed somehow to the 150."
Except for some rib thickness changes and spar beef-up,
the wing and strut used on the
1959 Model 150 (Model 140A
wing modified to accept the
large slotted flap) was also used

The 152 was
economical,
durable, and
its flight
characteristics
prepared
students well
for heavier,
more
complex
aircraft.
on the 1978 Model 152. In the
mid-1960s with the 150D there
was a 100-pound gross weight
increase, and in 1966 the
straight vertical tail was swept
aft for styling considerations.
The real Model 152 was
introduced in 1978 with the
main difference being a more
powerful (110 horsepower)
Lycoming O-235-L2C engine.
The flaps were limited to 30
degrees, and the gross weight
went up 70 pounds to 1,670.

1978, the year N152UC was
built, turned out to be the high
watermark for general aviation
aircraft deliveries, with nearly
18,000 new airframes added to
the fleet. The 152 faced competition in the training market from
Piper with its Tomahawk and
Beech with its Skipper, but the
152 sold particularly well against
them because of Cessna's powerful dealer network.
"If you were a Cessna dealer,
you were required to take delivery of new airplanes whether
you had sold them or not," said
Scott Bengston, a former Cessna
employee and author of several
articles about the development
of Cessna aircraft. "The dealers would blow out the 150s
and 152s at low prices just to
get them off the books. As a
result, there were many more
152s built than the market really
demanded. The Cessna distribution system created a lot of
sales for these airplanes."
Bengston said the 152 was
extraordinarily successful in
the punishing flight training
environment because it was
economical, durable, and its
flight characteristics prepared
students well for heavier, more
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2015

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