Bill Lear

William (Bill) Powell Lear ( born June 26, 1902 in Hannibal, Missouri, USA, † May 14, 1978 ) was an American inventor and entrepreneur.

Life

Lear grew up in Chicago, where he left school after the eighth grade and went to the United States Navy. In World War I he was a radio operator in the military. In the late 1920s he invented together with Elmer Wavering the first practical car radio. A short time later he developed equipment for aerospace engineering, such as beacon direction finder ( LearAvian ) and the first autopilot.

In 1941 he married Moya Marie Olsen, daughter of vaudeville comedians Ole Olson. The couple Lear have four children: John, Shanda, David and Tina. In 1949 he founded the company Lear, Incorporated in Santa Monica, California. In 1960 he moved to Switzerland, from where he moved away again in 1962 to Wichita (Kansas). There he founded the company Lear Jet Industries. On October 7, 1963, the first test flight of airplane Learjet 23 took place, which later went into mass production. In 1964 he invented the 8-track cartridge.

The successful flight pattern Canadair Regional Jet based on the type LearStar 600 The Flugzeugwerft Canadair bought the license and changed the model designation for Canadair CL -600 Challenger jet. Lear Jet was acquired in 1990 by Bombardier Aerospace.

His last major success was the flight pattern LearFan, a turboprop composite instead of the previously usual aluminum. Another peculiarity was the pusher concept: A rear -mounted propeller is driven by two motors.