In 1911 Clyde V. Cessna built his first aircraft, a Bleriot-type monoplane powered by a 45kW Elbridge engine, and followed it with several more designs before he formed the Travel Air Manufacturing Company, with Walter Beech and Lloyd Stearman, in February 1925. Cessna soon withdrew from the Travel Air organisation and, with Victor Roos, set up the Cessna-Roos Aircraft Company in September 1927, founding the Cessna Aircraft Company Inc. in December 1927 following the departure of Roos.

The first Cessna design to enter series production was the Cessna Model A, the first of a long and immensely successful line of high-wing monoplanes which is perpetuated to this day in Cessna's single-engined range. A four-seater of mixed wood and steel-tube construction with fabric covering, the type was built in several versions with different engines: 14 of the Model AA were manufactured with an 89kW Anzani, one of the Model AC with a 97kW Comet, three of the Model AF with a 112kW Floco/Axelson, four of the Model AS with a 93kW Siemens-Halske, and 48 of the Model AW powered by a 93kW Warner Scarab. A three-seat version was known as the Model BW, of which 13 were built with a 164kW Wright J-5 engine.