Dwane L. Wallace, who guided the Cessna Aircraft Company for more than 40 years, died Thursday of complications after heart surgery at the Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kan. He was 78 years old and lived in Wichita.

Mr. Wallace joined Cessna in 1934 as general manager. The company had been founded by his uncle, Clyde Cessna, but was forced to close in the early 1930's because of the Depression.

Mr. Wallace, a year out of the University of Wichita, with an aeronautical engineering degree and brief experience working for Walter Beech, another light aircraft pioneer, persuaded his uncle to reorganize Cessna and make him general manager at the age of 23.

Two years later Mr. Cessna retired and Mr. Wallace became president, a post he held until 1964 when he became chairman. He retired in 1975, but continued to serve as a board member and a $75,000-a-year consultant until 1983, when he severed his ties with the company after a dispute with its chairman, Russ Meyer - his hand-picked successor.

''Dwane left a legacy at Cessna which will continue to have a positive effect for many years,'' Mr. Meyer said yesterday. Fascination With Flying

For Mr. Wallace, who was born in Belmont, Kan., flying was a childhood fascination. He was taken on his first plane ride when he was 10 in Mr. Cessna's OX-5 Swallow. He flew gliders built by his college engineering class; he made his first solo flight in a powered aircraft after only three lessons totaling one hour and 45 minutes.

His first design, the C-34, became the Cessna Airmaster, which he flew for more than 4,000 hours in its first five years to keep the struggling company afloat. With the C-34, he won the Detroit News Air Transport Trophy three times, giving Cessna permanent possession in 1936.

The company's first big sale came in World War II. The Royal Canadian Air Force bought a trainer aircraft in 1940. The R.C.A.F. named it the Crane. Eventually Cessna sold more than 800 Cranes to Canada and 4,500 to the United States Army Air Corps.

Under Mr. Wallace's guidance, Cessna pioneered the sale of single-engine planes to business executives and played a leading role in the transition from cloth-covered to all-metal planes. Recognition for Achievements

In 1972 Cessna became the first company in the world to build 100,000 aircraft. Mr. Wallace was a founder and the first chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. In 1975 he became the first figure from general aviation to win the Daniel Guggenheim Medal, which is awarded for achievements in the advancement of flight. It was first given to Orville Wright in 1929.

In 1981 Mr. Wallace received the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, considered the highest award in aviation, for his ''distinguished leadership, mechcnical innovation, engineering management and public service contributing to the development of aviation in the United States.''

Mr. Wallace was a member of the Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Quiet Birdmen. In 1979 Wichita State University named a new engineering building Wallace Hall in his honor.

He is survived by his wife, the former Velma Lunt; four daughters, Linda Jones of St. Louis, Karen Johnson of Houston, Diana Wilkonson of Littleton, Colo., and Farah Bracco of Leawood, Kan.; a sister, Doreen Hubbard of Overland, Park, Kan., and 11 grandchildren. General Dynamicsd(Cessna Aircraft)

Dwane Wallace (Associated Press, 1982)