The 4-Engine Cessna Business Airliner That Met Its Design Goals, Then Was Canceled 14 Months After 1st Flight

In the early 1950s, the dawn of corporate aviation in the United States was powered by surplus WWII airframes. Post-war prosperity sparked the rise of private aviation as businesses purchased aircraft like the Douglas DC-3 or Lockheed Lodestar and refitted them from bare-bones military transport into luxurious passenger planes. Cessna saw an opening in the market for a purpose-built business airliner and set to work designing what would become known as the Model 620.