This Day in Aviation History

October 7th, 1963
First flight of the Learjet 23 prototype, the very first Learjet built.

The Learjet 23 is an American six-to-eight-seat (two crew and four to six passengers) twin-engine, high-speed business jet manufactured by Learjet.

William (Bill) Powell Lear, Sr. recognized the FFA P-16’s potential and established Swiss American Aviation Corporation (SAAC) to produce a passenger version as the SAAC-23 Execujet. The company moved to Wichita, Kansas and was renamed as the Lear Jet Corporation, production was started on the first Model 23 Learjet on February 7, 1962. The first flight of the Learjet 23 took place on 7 October 1963 with test pilots Hank Beaird and Bob Hagen.[1] Although the prototype crashed in June 1964 the type Learjet 23 was awarded a type certificate by the Federal Aviation Administration on….

Source:
Wikipedia, Learjet 23:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learjet_23

Wikipedia, Bill Lear:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lear

YouTube, LearJet Documentary On MegaFactories National Geographic Channel:   http://youtu.be/nV7rN2wrLDo

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