Morton W. Brown (1908- ), is the first (retired) Chief Pilot of Production Flight Test with the Cessna Aicraft Company, working from 1937 to 1972. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, before the age of 10, his family moved to Colorado, where Brown became fascinated with flight. In 1927 he joined the US Marines, serving aboard the USS California until his honorable discharge in 1931. He then attended Eddie Martin’s School of Aviation in Santa Ana, CA, and obtained his transport pilot license in 1933, returning to Denver afterwards to look for work.

Eventually, in 1937, he was employed at the Cessna Aircraft Company as a sales manager and test pilot. He worked for Cessna for approximately 35 years. During this time, he was responsible for the release of 85,000 airplanes through Production Flight Test, of which he personally flew the first hour(s) on over 14,000 airplanes. When he retired in 1972, he had accumulated 20,760 actual flight hours, documented in 23 logbooks.   

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