The name ‘Lear’ in business jet aviation rightly brings associations of innovation, elegance and sheer chutzpah. For, the fact is, Bill Lear started it all.
Lear was far from the first to design a jet. That honor (though there are historical disputes) may belong to Frank Whittle just before the days of WWII. But he was unquestionably the first to design and successfully market a small business jet.
And, not just any business jet, but one that would become the gold standard. Long before Bill Gates was a teenager (the Google guys weren’t even born yet), William Lear started Swiss American Aviation Company. The company evolved in the mid-1960s to bear his name and his imprint.
Young entrepreneurs would dream of owning one. They still do. Many are still in the air. After many mergers and much evolution the company was acquired by Bombardier, who have continued the tradition of making stellar aircraft.
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