The 195 is equally at home on turf or asphalt but either way, it will draw an admiring crowd when it’s on the ramp. Author’s 195, above, has been upgraded with a 275-HP Jake.

by Coyle Schwab

How many classic airplanes can combine useful basic transportation utility with the panache of a big, belching radial engine? We can think of only one: the venerable Cessna 195 Businessliner. (Cessna named it that for a reason. It really was one of the first business aircraft.)

Many vintage aircraft are indeed works of art, but their usefulness as day-to-day flyers is limited. But the 195 is actually a practical classic. One owner refers to his 195 as “a Cessna 206 that gets preferred parking at the fly-in breakfasts.” …