When the Learjet burst on the scene in 1963, it set off a veritable revolution in business aviation. William Lear was the visionary American inventor and businessman who first spotted the potential of business jets and founded the Learjet Corporation to manufacture these sleek machines. They soon became a ‘must have’ for any rich and successful businessperson.

But apart from business jets, Lear invented a host of useful devices and applications – many in the field of aviation and others totally unrelated to flying. His approach was simple. If he came across a product that he felt was defective or that lacked some feature, he would devote his energies to improving it. Having done so, he would quickly turn to something else. Among over 150 patents he was awarded were the car radio and the eighttrack stereo tape player. Once he began to fly, he turned his attention to enhancing aviation safety and developed an accurate and reliable autopilot, arguably one of the greatest advances in aviation technology. He also developed the first fully automatic aircraft landing system, navigational radio and a radio direction-finder for aircraft. All this from a person who was educated only till the eighth grade.

William Powell ‘Bill’ Lear was born on June 26, 1902, in Hannibal, Missouri. He was the only child of a poor immigrant family. When he was six, his parents divorced and Lear was left in his mother’s care. He joined the US Navy and served as a radio operator during World War I. But Lear’s first love was aviation. And in this he was not alone: America in the first half of the 20th century was fascinated with aircraft and captivated by anything to do with flying. In 1931 Lear bought a Fleet biplane and needed just two-and-a-half hours of airborne instruction to take-off on his first solo flight. Some time later, on his first cross-country trip to New York, he got into all sorts of navigational difficulties and decided that he must do something to improve navigational aids. He did not do too much flying thereafter, preferring to concentrate on making money from aviation.

During World War II, Lear’s aviation company earned about $100 million for its products. In 1949, he was awarded the Collier Trophy for developing the F-5 autopilot, the first autopilot that had the ability to land aircraft even in ‘zerozero’ weather. By 1956, over 1,00,000 F-5 autopilots had been built and fitted on a variety of planes of all sizes including the French Caravelle, the world’s first commercially successful passenger jet. A Caravelle equipped with the F-5 autopilot made aviation history by doing a series of completely blind landings. For this, Lear was awarded the Great Silver Medal from the City of Paris. But Bill Lear’s greatest triumph was still in the future.

In 1960 he moved to Switzerland and turned his attention to the growing market for business aircraft. Lear was unimpressed with piston-powered planes. Instead, he conceived the idea of a revolutionary small private jet that would feature the same performance characteristics and advantages as a passenger jet – in effect a mini jet airliner – but at a fraction of the cost. He was particularly inspired by the Swiss FFPA P-16 fighter-bomber, a design that had been discarded but which he felt had potential as a business jet. However his company’s board members were adamantly opposed to the proposal. Their reasoning was simple – since no other aviation company was working on the idea it probably had no market appeal. So convinced was Lear about his idea that he sold his stake and founded his own company to work on the new plane which he christened the Learjet.

A factory was set up in Wichita, Kansas, home of competitors Cessna and Beech. The Learjet was made using Swiss machine tools, then the finest in the world. The first flight of the Learjet 23 took place on October 7, 1963, and the first aircraft was delivered on October 14, 1964. By then the jet had already secured 72 firm orders. It was quiet, comfortable, smooth and easy to fly and could take four to six passengers. Powered by two 12.7 kN General Electric CJ610-4 turbojets, it had excellent climb performance, reaching 40,000 feet in only seven minutes and a maximum cruise speed of 850 kmph. With a range of 2,660 km, the Learjet 23 was economical to operate.

Seeing the Learjet’s success Cessna, Dassault and other manufacturers scrambled to produce their own designs; but Lear enjoyed complete monopoly for some years. His gamble had paid off. However, other impulsive decisions like rapidly expanding the product line proved to be unwise. The company eventually sold about 740 Learjets of various models.

Lear was admired for his creativity and inventiveness. He never shrank from business challenges even if there were possibilities of failure. Neither was he afraid to try new ways of doing things. For instance, when time was running short and it was proving difficult to work inside the slender fuselages of the first Learjets, he brought in a team of dwarfs from California to do the job. He also had a legendary sense of humour. When somebody complained that he couldn’t stand up in his Learjet, Lear retorted, “You can’t stand up in a Cadillac either.” While stressing the need to reduce the Learjet’s weight he declared, “I’d sell my grandmother to save one pound.” And he proclaimed his belief in the importance of attractive design thus: “If it looks good, it will fly good.” That aptly sums up the elegant Learjet.

William Lear died at the age of 75 on May 14, 1978.