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- The Learjet started life as an abortive Swiss ground-attack fighter aircraft, the FFA P-16. Development started in 1952 and prototypes were ordered the next year. The first prototypes flew in 1955 and construction and testing continued until 1958 when an order for 100 was placed. This was reversed soon after due to a crash of the third prototype. Two additional prototypes were finished, the last in 1960, but the project was ended at this point. The basic structure of this aircraft was seen by Bill Lear and his team as a good starting point to the development of a business jet, which was originally intended to be called the SAAC-23. The wing with its distinctive tip fuel tanks and landing gear of the first Learjets were little changed from those used by the fighter prototypes. The tooling for building the aircraft was purchased and moved to Wichita, Kansas in 1962. On February 7, assembly of the first Learjet began. The next year, the company was renamed the Lear Jet Corporation.
[Text provided by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learjet ]
[Photo provided by: http://www.aerospace-technology.com ]
Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: LEARJET Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Aircraft Short_Name: LEARJET End_Group Creation_Date: 2008-07-14 Online_Resource: http://www.learjet.com/ Online_Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learjet Sample_Image: http://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/learjet/images/Learjet45_2.jpg End_Group
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