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Born:
26
June 1902, Hannibal, Missouri
Died:
14 May 1978
Education: Navy, radio electronics
William
Lear joined the Navy at age 16, and after World War I learned flying. By
now he was a capable auto mechanic, ham
radio operator and an aviation mechanic at Chicago’s Grant Park
Airport.
From this experience germinated a distinguished career using his creative genius and entrepreneurship in the fields of aviation communications and navigation equipment. Beginning in 1930, over a 20 year period, he secured more than 100 patents for aircraft radios, communications and navigation equipment.
Although his name is now eponymous for corporate jet airplanes, his first commercial venture was in 1922. At the age of 20, he founded his first company - the Quincy Radio Laboratory. He designed a nonbattery home radio receiver with a built-in speaker and built the first car radio. In 1924, he sold the product to the new Motorola Corporation for mass production. For Motorola it was their first major product ("Motor-ola," in fact, is short for "motor victrola")
In 1934, he enjoyed success again with a single, universal radio amplifier design that was purchased by RCA, who could use it throughout their radio product range. He also expanded into designing aircraft navigation equipment with his new companies, Lear Corp. and LearAvia Corporation.
During World War II, his companies handled more than $100 million for military needs.
He put his name on the Learmatic Navigator in 1940, a radio direction finder. It provided pilots a way to automatically hold a course by tuning in to any kind of radio broadcast. This invention earned the prestigious Frank M. Hawks Memorial Award.
In the post-war years, Lear's company turned out several designs of lightweight autopilots for fighter aircraft. By adding an approach coupler, he created another important first - a device controlling fully automatic landings in low visibility conditions. This accomplishment was recognized as the most outstanding aeronautical achievement of the year 1950. He was presented with the Collier Trophy by President Truman.
Not all his inventions
were so prestigious. In the 1960's, the eight-track tape player (using
a cassette loaded with an endless loop of mgnetic tape) was his invention.
Fortunately for his name it wasn't known as the "Lear
Deck", because the product had a short commercial life.
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In 1962, his latest design - an autopilot for the Caravelle jetliner - made possible the first completely automatic blind landings of a passenger airplane. For this, he was honored by the French government. In the same year, he sold his interest in Lear, Inc. to form Learjet. Over the next five years, established a solid reputation and the resulting sales of corporate jet aircraft. By 1975, over 500 Learjets had been delivered.
In the 1970s his aircraft designs included the Canadair Challenger and the Lear Fan, an airplane built entirely from composites. Lear died during development of the Lear Fan, and although there were a number of advance orders it was never put into production.
Before Lear died in 1978, he had also designed the Canadair Challenger aircraft, and investigated using entirely composite materials developing the Lear Fan (never reached production). He had also spent time designing an antipollution steam engine.
Lear was invested (1981) in the International Aerospace Hall of Fame.
LINKS:
Inventure Minute audio biography of William Lear is actually 1 min 31 sec (RealAudio).
Chronology of the Lear Jet at the site of Bombardier Aerospace, the company's present owner.
The 8 track early
history; the 8 versus
4 track history and endless
loop recording.