Learjet - History

History

For decades the popular misconception was that the Learjet started life as an abortive 1950s Swiss ground-attack fighter aircraft, the FFA P-16. But in his 2005 book "Lear Gene", William Lear's son John stated:

"That's patently false," he said. "For instance, the P-16 had Krueger leading-edge flaps for added lift; the Learjet doesn't. The P-16 wing aspect ratio was around 4.15; the Learjet's aspect ratio was 5.4; the P-16 wing sweep was zero; the Learjet's was 13 degrees. The P-16 used double-slotted Fowler flaps that extended under the fuselage; it also had ailerons that could be drooped 18 degrees. The Learjet uses single-slotted flaps, confined to the wing area only, and it doesn't have leading-edge high-lift devices or drooped ailerons."

The basic structure of Swiss P-16 aircraft was seen by Bill Lear and his team as a good starting point to the development of a business jet, which was originally intended to be called the SAAC-23. The wing with its distinctive tip fuel tanks and landing gear of the first Learjets were little changed from those used by the fighter prototypes. The tooling for building the aircraft was purchased and moved to Wichita, Kansas, in 1962. LearJet was in a temporary office which opened in September 1962 while the plant at Wichita's airport was under construction. On February 7, 1963 assembly of the first Learjet began. The next year, the company was renamed the Lear Jet Corporation.

The original Learjet 23 was a six- to eight-seater and first flew on October 7, 1963, with the first production model being delivered in October 1964. Just over a month later, Lear Jet became a publicly owned corporation. Several derived models followed, with the Model 24 first flying on February 24, 1966 and the Model 25 first flying on August 12, 1966. On September 19 of the same year, the company was renamed Lear Jet Industries Inc.

On April 10, 1967, Bill Lear's stock—he held approximately 60% of the company (US$27,000,000)—was acquired by the Gates Rubber Company of Denver, Colorado, United States, with Lear remaining on the board until April 2, 1969.

About this time it was hoped to make the Learjet the first supersonic business jet, with the ability to accelerate vertically upward. The Learjet made several visits to the Ag Aviation Academy at Reno/Stead Airport, with the chief pilot holding informal talks to students