Looking Back: Bill Lear’s Legacy | Aviation International News

Looking Back: Bill Lear’s Legacy

Bill Lear possessed the soul of a true inventor.

Bill Lear founder Learjet Corp. — Bill Lear's goals for the first Learjet Model 23 were simple: to build a slick-looking airplane that climbed like a rocket and could fly six to eight people at airliner speeds for a shoestring price. (Photo: AIN archives)

By AIN Staff • AIN Staff

January 26, 2007

Bill Lear possessed the soul of a true inventor. Almost entirely a self-taught engineer, Lear dropped out of high school in a search for answers to many of life’s problems as he saw them. The results were products many people take for granted, even today…the car radio he eventually sold to the budding Motorola, the eight-track tape player and the first commercially successful aircraft autopilot. Not bad for a kid with no formal education.

Lucky for us, Lear also had a passion for aviation and, in an era when business aviation relied almost solely on Beech 18s and DC-3s, believed vehemently that there was a better way for executives to travel the country in search of success. With the 1958 introduction and subsequent success of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, Lear realized business aviation’s future rested with jet aircraft.

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