The business jet was born from a French trainer and a US Air Force shopping list
The first small civilian jet looked like a fighter, seating four people in two rows under a sliding canopy. It flopped commercially, and its failure scared off Cessna and Douglas. What launched the modern private jet instead was a 1956 Air Force request that manufacturers build aircraft at their own expense and hope for a big order.
Morane-Saulnier derived its MS.760 Paris from a two-seat trainer and flew it in 1954. It won an American type certificate in 1958, but most of the 219 built went to air forces, and a roomier civilian version never got past a prototype. In August 1956 the US Air Force asked for two off-the-shelf types, a larger cargo aircraft and a smaller trainer, with no formal competition and no development money.
Several companies gambled. Lockheed's four-engined JetStar, carrying ten passengers, flew in September 1957 and stayed in production until 1978. North American's smaller Sabreliner flew a year later and sold more than 800. McDonnell's entry, the 119, hung its engines under a low wing like an airliner; the Air Force worried about debris being sucked in, no orders came, and only the prototype was built. That lesson explains why most business jets carry their engines on the rear fuselage with a T or cruciform tail.
The 1960s produced the families that still dominate. The Learjet 23 of 1963 was the first light jet, the Dassault Falcon 20 flew the same year and spawned the Falcon line, and the de Havilland DH.125 of 1962 became the British Aerospace 125, with almost 1,700 built. In 1966 the Gulfstream II, powered by Rolls-Royce Spey engines, became the first large business jet. Cessna's Citation I followed in 1969.
The 1980s brought only derivatives and slumping sales, along with fractional ownership late in the decade. Very light jets arrived with the Eclipse 500 in 2002, and the HondaJet mounts its engines above the wing, a layout unique among business jets. Most designs use two engines, balancing running costs against the need to keep flying if one fails.
Source: Business jet
