William Powell Lear was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding Learjet, a manufacturer of business jets. He also invented the battery eliminator for the B battery and developed the car radio and the 8-track cartridge, an audio tape system. Throughout his career of 46 years, Lear received over 140 patents.
Bill Lear
Learjet 25, an example of the Lear executive jets that still bear his name
8-track tape
Learjet was a manufacturer of business jets for civilian and military use based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Founded in the late 1950s by William Powell Lear as Swiss American Aviation Corporation, it became a subsidiary of Canadian Bombardier Aerospace in 1990, which marketed the company’s aircraft as the "Bombardier Learjet Family". The 3,000th Learjet was delivered in June 2017. The Learjet line was once sufficiently popular that the Learjet name became synonymous and interchangeable with the terms business jet or private jet in the popular vernacular. In February 2021, Bombardier announced the end of production for all new Learjet aircraft in 2021, with the continuation of support and maintenance for aircraft currently in service.
The company's first aircraft, the Learjet 23
Learjet 45 of Gama Aviation
