HISTORY
Learjet
was a manufacturer of business jets
for civilian and military use. It
was founded in the late 1950s by
William Powell Lear as
Swiss
American Aviation Corporation.
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.
In 1969, the company was merged with
Gates Aviation and the company name
was changed to
Gates Learjet
Corporation. In 1971, the first
Model 25 powered by a Garrett
TFE731-2 turbofan engine was flown.
This aircraft later became the
successful Learjet 35. That year,
the company was awarded the
President's "E" Award for promoting
export sales.
In 1974, the
worldwide Learjet fleet had exceeded
the one-million-flight-hours mark
and in 1975 the company produced its
500th jet. In both instances they
were the first manufacturer to do
so. By late 1976, the company had
increased the number of aircraft
being produced each month to 10.
On August
24, 1977, the Learjet 28 made its
first flight. The Learjet 28/29 was
based on the Learjet 25, and
received a completely new wing
fitted with winglets, resulting in
improved performance and fuel
economy. The Learjet 28/29 became
the first production jet aircraft to
utilize these winglets, which are
now a common sight on most business
and commercial airplanes. The
winglets inspired the name
"Longhorn" for the short-lived
Learjet 28/29 series and for some of
the more successful models that
followed.
On April 19,
1979, the prototype for the Model
54/55/56 series had its first
flight, and on July 7, 1983 a
standard production Model 55 set six
new time-to-climb records for its
weight class.
In 1984,
Gates Learjet announced the start of
their Aerospace Division, a high
technology endeavor. However, by the
end of the year the company had
ceased production of its commercial
jets in an effort to reduce
inventories. This lasted until
February 1986, when the company
headquarters were transferred to
Tucson, Arizona, and production was
restarted both in Wichita and
Tucson.
On September
10, 1985, the Aerospace Division was
awarded a contract to produce parts
for the Space Shuttle's main
engines. In 1987, Gates Learjet was
acquired by Integrated Acquisition
and the next year the name was
changed to Learjet Corporation. By
January 1989 all production had been
moved from the Tucson facility back
to Wichita.
In 1990,
Bombardier Aerospace purchased the
Learjet Corporation. The aircraft
were then marketed as the
"Bombardier Learjet Family". On
October 10, 1990, the Learjet 60
mid-sized aircraft had its first
flight, followed on October 7, 1995
by the Learjet 45. In October 2007
Bombardier Learjet launched a brand
new aircraft program, the Learjet
85. It was the first FAR Part-25
all-composite business aircraft.
In October 2007, Bombardier
Learjet launched a brand new
aircraft program, the Learjet
85. It was the first FAR
Part-25 all-composite
business aircraft.
Bombardier celebrated the
45th anniversary of the
first flight by a Learjet
with 2008's Year
of Learjet campaign. One
of its highlights was
British Formula
One racing
driver Lewis
Hamilton racing
a Learjet and winning an
event at the Farnborough
Air Show. On
October 28, 2015 Bombardier
announced cancellation of
the Learjet 85 program.
On February 11, 2021,
Bombardier announced the end
production of all Learjet
aircraft. Bombardier also
announced they would
continue to fully support
the Learjet fleet well into
the future, and launched the
Learjet RACER
re-manufacturing program for
the Learjet 40 and Learjet
45 aircraft. As Bombardier
focuses on its larger
Challenger and Global jets,
the final aircraft, a Learjet
75, was delivered on 28
March 2022 after 60 years of
production, delivering more
than 3,000 aircraft, of
which more than 2,000 remain
in service.
Source:
Wikipedia
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