Mort (Morton) W. Brown 1908-2011

Mort Brown was born in 1908 and even before his early years of grade school, Mort had dreamed of being a pilot. While attending school, Mort could be seen walking to school with an aviation magazine tucked under his arm, begging to be read in a spare moment.
In 1927, Brown enlisted in the U.S. Marines for the sole purpose of becoming a pilot. However the Marines had other plans for Mort, so he became a seafaring Marine, stationed in Nicaragua to prevent a political coup in the Banana Republic. Following his honorable discharge in 1931, Mort enrolled at Eddie Martin's School of Aviation in Santa Anna, California, a commercial aviation school. Mort obtained his transport pilot's license in 1933 after completing ground and flight training. He found employment as a flight instructor and utility pilot in San Diego, and later in Denver during the depression.
Mort soon met Dwane Wallace, President of Cessna through Ray Wilson's Flying School, which had been established as a Cessna dealership and distributor. Brown was hired as Sales Manager for Cessna in 1938 for the production of the C-38 Airmaster, after its certification. With the development of the Cessna T-50, first twin engine aircraft, Mort was assigned to Chief Pilot of Production Flight Test, which began a long career in aviation.
During Mort's nearly 35 years with Cessna, he was responsible for the production flight testing of all production models of Cessna airplanes ranging from the Airmaster, T-50 (civil and military), through the post-war series 120, 140, 150, 170, 172, 177, 180, 182, 185, 188 Agwagon, 190, 195, 205, 206, 207, 210, some early 310's (including the U3A military version), 336, 337, L-19 Bird Dog military, OE-2, and many other civil and military aircraft designed and built by Cessna.