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From the Cockpit – Early Cessna 172s
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Early Cessna 172 Skyhawks
This month we relaunch our popular From the Cockpit series where Stewart Wilson takes an in-depth look at light aircraft – their development, various models and improvements, flying characteristics, performance and their current market values.
For an aircraft which began life in 1955 as a simple tricycle undercarriage version of the four-seat Model 170 taildragger, the Cessna 172 went on to become probably the most produced aircraft of any type in the history of aviation. Production was finally suspended in 1985 as the depression gripping the general aviation industry finally took hold – as did the USA’s draconian product liability laws – but during its 30 year production life, nearly 42,000 172s, Skyhawks, 175s, Skylarks, Powermatics, Rockets, Hawk XPs, Cutlasses and T-41 Mescalero military trainers emerged from Cessna’s factories in the USA and the assembly lines of Reims Aviation in France. The 172’s appeal lay in its honest, reliable simplicity and its easy operation and is – as one aviation writer put it – “the nearest thing to the light aircraft equivalent of the DC-3”. This success is despite some initial doubts about the 172’s future, as its tricycle undercarriage was held in scorn by many of the ‘purists’ of the time. But those who ultimately decide such things – the buyers – made an early decision in favour of the 172. In its first full year of production (1956) Cessna sold 1419 units, some 230 more than the 170 had sold in its best year. The 172’s honest simplicity will be once again available to new aircraft buyers following Cessna’s decision to return the 172 to production, a direct result of the US Government softening the product liability laws as they affect general aviation. This article deals with the early versions of the 172 Skyhawk, those powered by the 145hp (108kW) Continental O-300 six cylinder engine and built between 1955 and 1967.
Marks and Models
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