There are only a handful of airplane types whose names have made it into the lexicon of the public at large: Blackbird, Concorde, B-52, and 747 Jumbo Jet, to name a few. To that list must be added the name Lear Jet (or Learjet as it later became), which rapidly became a synonym for the private jets that transported the rich and famous between their glamorous engagements and vacation retreats.
While the marque may no longer be in production, and its status as a must-have accessory for celebrities and industry luminaries long usurped by names such as Gulfstream and Falcon, its legacy will live on for decades.
It had an unlikely beginning. The renowned engineer and inventor William “Bill” Powell Lear Sr had been flying since the early 1930s and had turned his fertile brain to developing electronic navigation aids. Among his credits was the world’s first automatic landing system. He also dabbled in aircraft design, creating the Learstar, an executive conversion of the World War 2-era Lockheed Lodestar that was modified in the 1950s by PacAero in Santa Monica, California.
This early experience in business aviation fired up Lear to create a purpose-built private/corporate jet to capitalize on what he saw as a burgeoning demand for such an aircraft, despite the relatively slow early sales of the first generation of business jets. However, the desire to build aircraft was at odds with the board of his company, Lear Incorporated, which was eventually sold to Siegler in 1962.
In the meantime, Lear had moved to Switzerland in 1960 and founded the Swiss American Aviation Company (SAAC). Its aim was to create a private jet based on the P-16 fighter. Designed by Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein (FFA), the P-16 was a straight-winged fighter bomber intended for the Swiss air force powered by a single Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet. Five were built, of which two crashed, and the program was officially canceled in 1959 when the Swiss bought the Hawker Hunter, although FFA continued development for a year or so longer.
Lear saw considerable promise in the design as a basis for his jet, and SAAC employed a number of FFA engineers after the P-16 was finally mothballed. Despite some assertions to the contrary, and despite some obvious similarities between the P-16 and Lear Jet such as the straight wing and wingtip tanks, there was very little crossover between the two designs in reality.
Design of what was initially known as the SAAC-23 Execujet was mostly undertaken at Althenrhein in Switzerland, with P-16 chief designer Hanz-Luzius Studer—who later designed the HFB 320 Hansa Jet with its trademark forward-swept wings—heading the team of British, German, and Swiss engineers. Lear planned to build at least the first three aircraft at Altenrhein, but instead moved the operation back to the U.S. for construction and final design, citing the slow speed of progress in Switzerland. A factory and design office was established in Wichita, Kansas, the company was renamed Lear Jet Corporation, and the new aircraft became the Lear Jet (later Learjet) Model 23.
In February 1962 construction of the prototype began, and on Oct. 7, 1963, Hank Beaird and Bob Hagen took it aloft for its first flight. Flight trials proceeded relatively smoothly until June 4, 1964, when the aircraft was lost in a crash. The pilot had inadvertently deployed the spoilers while demonstrating an engine failure after the takeoff event.
A second prototype completed the trials and is now on display in the Thomas W. Haas We All Fly Gallery of the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Despite the setback of the crash, which was attributed to pilot error, the FAA awarded the aircraft its type certification on July 31, 1964, and the first production aircraft was delivered on October 13.
Rocketship
From his days of turning a lumbering World War II transport into a sleek executive transport, Lear understood the importance of “ramp appeal,” and the Model 23 emerged as a sleek, futuristic design that oozed speed and glamour. Its rakish nose line and divided windscreen screamed “fighter,” an image further underlined by the stubby wings, tip tanks, and T-tail, all of which were redolent of what was then the Air Force’s hottest ship—the Mach 2 F-104 Starfighter.
The large, oval windows—one to port and two to starboard—hinted at opulence. That opulence did not extend to the cabin, however, which at just over four feet in both width and height made for relatively cramped accommodation. “You can’t stand up in a Cadillac!” was Lear’s alleged retort to such criticism.
Typically seating six passengers, although able to accommodate eight at a squeeze, the Lear Jet 23 had an mtow of 12,500 pounds—the FAA limit for small aircraft. It was pushed along by a pair of General Electric’s CJ610-4 turbojets, which each generated 2,850 pounds of thrust. This engine, which also powered the Hansa Jet and the Jet Commander business jets, was a civilian derivative of the J85, two of which were installed in the Northrop F-5 supersonic fighter.
Offering a high power-to-weight ratio, the CJ610 combined with the Model 23’s sleek design and short wings to confer scintillating performance on the private jet, at least when compared with aircraft of the day. Limiting Mach was 0.82, equating to a top speed of 561 mph at 24,000 feet. The Lear Jet 23 could reach 45,000 feet, offering a creditable rate of climb of 6,900 fpm. High-speed cruise was 518 mph at 40,000 feet, while at a more economical speed, the type could cover 1,590 nm at 485 mph while flying at 40,000 feet. And the Lear Jet 23 was aerobatic.
Production and Career
With such performance and looks, the Model 23 was an instant success among rich individuals and corporate owners alike. Perhaps the highest-profile customer was Frank Sinatra, whose aircraft was famously used by Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu to fly from Palm Springs to marry in Las Vegas on May 1, 1967.
The Model 23 was priced at around $650,000 fully equipped, considerably less than its rivals, helping its impressive sales record. On the other hand, the type was marred by a spate of accidents in the first three years of operation. This, in part, was attributable to the airplane being rather too hot to handle for a number of pilots that were unaccustomed to its levels of performance.
Lear Jet built just over 100 Model 23s at Wichita before the improved Model 24 was introduced. The final Model 23 left the factory in 1966 after less than two years of production.
Model 23s continued to make the news and gossip columns, though, and remained a firm favorite among their owners. Long-time Learjet advocate Clay Lacy used a Model 23 to film most of the aerial sequences for the 1986 “Top Gun” movie and subsequently flew the type in aerial displays for many years. NASA employed the type for chase-plane and trials duties at Edwards AFB, California.
As a footnote, the wings of a Model 23—minus tip tanks—were mated to a hybrid Mustang fuselage to create the P-51R unlimited racer “Miss Ashley II.” The Griffon-powered monster first flew in 1997 but was lost in a fatal crash at the Reno air races in 1999.
By the late 1990s, the type’s numbers were dwindling, with fewer than 40 operational by the end of the century. On the last day of 2015, Stage 3 noise compliance regulations came into effect, grounding any Model 23s that had not been re-engined or fitted with hush kits. Today it is unlikely that any are still flying, although at least eight are on display in museums.
Model 23’s Legacy
Even with the initial success of the Model 23, Lear Jet was already working on improvements. At first, the company sought to improve the basic Model 23 to take advantage of the 13,500-pound mtow permitted by FAR Part 25 regulations. The result was the Learjet 24, the first business jet to be certified under Part 25. As well as the mtow increase, the Model 24 had various improvements, such as increased cabin pressurization and engine fire extinguishers.
Lear Jet flew the first Model 24 on Jan. 24, 1966, and in May one was flown around the world in an elapsed time of 50 hours 20 minutes. Certification was received on November 9. The Learjet 24 looked externally similar to the Model 23, and the first 81 24As were essentially similar barring some modifications. The following 24B introduced uprated CJ610-6 engines. The final models, the 24E and F, had cambered wings and other aerodynamic improvements, as well as 2,950-pound thrust CJ610-8A engines. In 1977 the FAA-certified service ceiling was raised to 51,000 feet, the 24E/F becoming the first business aircraft to achieve what remains today as the benchmark in the sector.
In all, 259 Model 24s were built, but a more important derivative took to the air on Aug. 12, 1966, in the form of the Model 25. Some four feet, two inches longer than the 23/24, the Learjet 25 could seat eight in comfort. Production amounted to 369 and it was this type—perhaps more than any other—that cemented the Learjet’s place in the market.
A change to Garrett TFE731 power heralded the arrival of the slightly stretched Model 35, and its Model 36 long-range derivative, in 1973. Together they became the most popular of the Learjets, with 738 built before production ended in 1994, including over 80 C-21As for the U.S. Air Force.
Another Model 25 derivative was the Learjet 28/29 Longhorn of 1977, with an all-new wing design. Although only nine were built, it was the first production jet to feature winglets. These were carried forward to the Model 55 and improved Model 60, which had larger cabins. The Learjet 31, introduced in 1990, married the Longhorn wing with the fuselage of the 35/36 and was the ultimate expression of the original design sequence initiated by the Model 23.
Under Bombardier’s stewardship, a new family of Learjets was developed. While unmistakably continuing the design tradition, they were all-new aircraft. The first was the 45, which led to the shorter 40, and then the modernized 70/75. A final development, the composite Learjet 85, was canceled 18 months after its first flight.
During this period the company underwent a number of changes in name and ownership. In November 1964 it became publicly owned, but Lear was forced to sell his 60 percent share in April 1967 to Gates Rubber. He remained on the board until April 2, 1969, at which point the company adopted the name Gates Learjet.
As for Lear himself, he remained interested in business aircraft, developing the LearStar 600 design in the mid-1970s. The concept was acquired by Canadair (later Bombardier), but by the time the company’s wide-body business jet was launched as the CL-600 Challenger, little remained of Lear’s original design.
Another buyout in 1987 by Integrated Acquisition resulted in a change to Learjet Corporation before the company was acquired by Bombardier Aerospace in 1990. On Feb. 11, 2021, Bombardier announced the end of Learjet production after nearly six decades, and on March 22, 2022, the final aircraft was delivered. The Learjet name had been carried by more than 3,000 aircraft and continues to be a major player in the used aircraft market.