Cessna 140
The Cessna 140 is a two-seat, single-engine light aircraft built by the Cessna Aircraft Company in Wichita, Kansas, and first flown in 1945. Introduced in 1946 alongside the simpler Cessna 120, it was a metal-fuselage, fabric-wing taildragger aimed at the postwar market for training and personal flying. The 140A of 1949 replaced the fabric wing with an all-metal one. Production of the family ended in 1951 after 7,664 aircraft, and about a third of those built are still registered today.
Why It Mattered
The Cessna 140 was drawn up for the market Cessna expected once the war ended; when wartime production stopped abruptly in mid-1945, the company needed a civil product ready. Together with the simpler 120, it jump-started Cessna's transition back to a peacetime business. More than 7,500 of the family were built between 1946 and 1951, and Cessna marketed the 140 as a modern trainer that buyers could afford, and as an economical cross-country machine. The little two-seater also helped establish the strut-braced single-engine line that would define Cessna's light aircraft for decades.
Design Notes
The 140 paired a metal fuselage and metal control surfaces with wings that were still fabric-covered. Power came from an 85 hp Continental C-85, and the airplane sat on spring-steel conventional landing gear that AOPA calls a low-drag, low-maintenance system. What separated the 140 from the cheaper 120 was equipment: split-type wing flaps, a full electrical system, and quarter windows behind each door, where the 120 had no flaps at all and offered its electrical system and rear windows only as options. The 140A of 1949 replaced the fabric wing with an all-metal wing carried on single struts, a wing first developed in 1948 for the four-place Cessna 170.
Operational History
The 140 first flew on 28 June 1945, and the type certificate data sheet shows it approved on 21 March 1946, with the 120 following a week later, on 28 March. Demand in the first year was intense: Cessna sold 3,846 of the 120 and 140 in 1946, at one point delivering 30 airplanes a day. The boom faded quickly, with production tapering to 2,523 in 1947 and only 704 more over the next two years before the 120 and 140 ended in 1949. The 140A kept the line going until production of the 140 ended in 1951, selling 525 examples in three years. In service the family worked mainly as trainers and personal aircraft, grossing 1,450 pounds, or 1,500 pounds for the 140A. In all, 7,664 of the three models were built.
Afterlife
The family's place in Cessna's line was taken in 1959 by the Cessna 150, a similar two-seat trainer that replaced the tailwheel with tricycle gear. The type has lasted well: roughly a third of all the 120s and 140s built are still on the FAA register, and many of those remain in flying condition. Owners are backed by the International Cessna 120/140 Association, and AOPA reports that the parts situation for these small Cessnas is not critical. Ken and Lorraine Morris have been restoring Cessna 120s and 140s since 1988, and Ken Morris calls the 140 "probably the best two-place postwar trainer built".