@ Dallas, TX
May 2024
I made my first visit to the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas and was thrilled to see this very rare Lear Fan. The last aircraft to be designed by Bill Lear before his passing, only three of these prototype business aircraft were built. Bill Lear first advocated his idea of a twin-engine, single-propeller pusher airplane in 1954. First flown in 1981, this innovative design was powered by two turboshaft engines driving a single propeller via a complicated gearbox, housed in an all-composite airframe (approx 50% the weight of aluminum construction). This view shows the unusual Y-shaped tail with two stabilizers canted upward and a short vertical stabilizer pointed downward. Structural problems appeared during the pressurization of the composite fuselage, and the Lear Fan never received FAA certification due to reliability concerns regarding the gearbox. Plans called for production of the aircraft in Ireland with UK funding, contingent on achieving first flight in 1980. The flight occurred on Jan 1, 1981 but British officials witnessing the first flight declared New Year’s Day to be December 32, 1980. Development of the Lear Fan was abandoned in 1985.