LEARJET Aircraft Manuals PDF
History of Learjet Aircraft
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William Lear's company was founded in November 1959 under the name Swiss American Aviation Corporation. But the history of the company began rather unsuccessfully
The famous inventor William Lear became interested in the design of the P-16 aircraft, who in November 1959 founded the private company Swiss American Aviation Corporation and began designing his first business jet based on the P-16.
The new aircraft received the working name SAAC-23 (later changed to Learjet 23), while the wing structure, fuel tanks and landing gear were taken almost unchanged from the P-16 fighter project.
The liner was equipped with two General Electric CJ610-1 turbojet engines with a thrust of 1293 kgf each, subsequently replaced by a General Electric CJ610-4 modification with the same thrust.
In September 1962, the company's headquarters moved to Wichita (Kansas, USA).
On February 7, 1963, the assembly of the first Learjet 23 business jet began, which took off on October 7 of the same year.
In November 1964, the company underwent a corporatization procedure and changed its official name to Lear Jet Corporation.
On February 24, 1966, the next model aircraft, Learjet 24, made its first flight, and on August 12 of the same year, the Learjet 25 aircraft.
On September 19, 1966, the firm again changed its official name to Lear Jet Industries Inc. On April 10, 1967, William Lear sold his 60% stake in Lear Jet to the Denver Gates Rubber Company. The deal was worth $ 27 million.
Lear remained Director of Lear Jet until April 2, 1969.
The first Learjet 28 took off on 24 August 1977. The 28 and 29 business jets were based on the 25, but the wing structure was completely new and featured winglets, which significantly improved the fuel efficiency of the new aircraft.
Learjet models 28 and 29 were the first commercial aircraft in the world to use winglets.
On April 29, 1979, a test flight of the aircraft that became the prototype of the Learjet 54 / 55 / 56 series took place, and on July 7 of the same year, the 55 series aircraft set six world records for aircraft of its class.
In 1984, Gates Learjet announced the creation of the Aerospace Division, but at the end of the following year the company faced serious financial problems, was forced to curtail the activities of the design division and, moreover, to temporarily stop production of aircraft.
In 1990, the Canadian aircraft corporation Bombardier bought out the shares of Learjet Corporation in full ownership, henceforth all aircraft produced by the subsidiary Learjet division were to be jointly labeled Bombardier Learjet Family.
On October 10, 1990, the first Learjet 60 model took off under this brand, and on October 7, 1995, the Learjet 45 made its maiden flight.
In October 2007, Bombardier Learjet launched a new program to build the Learjet 85, the latest jet in the business aviation class to be built entirely of composite materials.