Initial sales were slow, perhaps two or three a month but as the plane was demonstrated sales started to improve. A key event in the Beaver's history occurred the next year when the US Army commenced its search for a new utility aircraft to replace their fleet of Cessnas. The competition quickly boiled down to the Beaver and the Cessna 195; however, the Beaver proved itself to outperform the 195 and, as a consequence of the outbreak of the Korean War, this led to orders for hundreds of aircraft being placed. The US Army would ultimately order 970 Beavers, more than half of the overall production run for the type.