Learjet Plane

However, tireless Lear couldn't stop making. Its Learjet was designed around the wing and base structures of a short-lived P-16 battle plane. The first Lear 23 was flown in 1963 in Wichita, Ks. During the test, the first Learjet prototypes fell, a herald of the future.

In 1964, however, the aircraft achieved its FAA-certificate. Its first Learjet was divested to a chemical and industrial corporation in Cincinnati, Chemical and Industrial Corp. The Lear 23 had an amazing output with basically the same powers as the Air Force F-5 sonic warplane. During an early commercial fly, a Learjet made a round voyage between New York and Los Angeles in 11 hours 35 minutes, fueling included.

However, there was one disadvantage to the fighting power of the Lear 23: a fighting crash rate high. In three years, 23 Learjets had crashes, four of them with deadly consequences. That was a scandalous statistics for a squadron of 104 planes. Until 2005, more than half of the Lear 23 fleets had been involved in casualties, 13 of them deadly.

Every eighth Lear 23 ever made ended up murdering someone. In 1966 Lear quickly recognised the issue and launched a new car, the 24, with enhanced performance at low speeds. Learjet continues to live on in the 30, 50 and 60 models, which are bigger, more powerful and more reliable.

Wealthy boys in the background may favour the more spacious later version, but for a pilots up to the challenge, there's still nothing better than a Lear 23.