“They said I’d never build it. That if I built it, it wouldn’t fly. That if it flew, I couldn’t sell it. Well, I did, and it did, and I could.”

This was the sentiment of Bill Lear.

It’s Lear, just like the Learjet that is celebrating its 50th year. The most exciting news about the new model’s release is the release of the revolutionary Learjet 85aircraft — we’ll have more on that in a moment — it’s worth paying tribute to the man who gave the world the first corporate jet in 1963.

Lear was born in Hannibal, Mo. in 1902. He grew up in Chicago, and had at most three notable habits. First, he kept getting “dismissed”High schools “showing up teachers”He eventually quit. Second, he was described as “a bit of a savant”. “an odd sense of humor.”(One of the milder cases: He named his daughter Shanda, as in Shanda Lear/sounds similar (*()”chandelier.”And third, even before designing the original, moderately priced Learjet 23 — his greatest obsession and one that would define a new category of business aviation — Lear had already shown a shoot-for-the-extraordinary flair by inventing such things as:

* the car radio

* the autopilot for jet aircraft

* the radio direction-finder for general aviation aircraft

A former business associate once told The Wichita Eagle.

“He was a perfect example of an entrepreneur,”The Learjet 85 is now available.

CNBC calls it

That’s what it is. “the new ‘It’ private plane”Flexjet is an option for fractional ownership and aviation enthusiasts.”generating iPhone-like excitement”) has exclusive first-dibs rights on the aircraft. www.flexjet.comDeanna White, president of Flexjet.”We relish the opportunity to brightly shine the spotlight on the Learjet 85 aircraft, which more than lives up to its legendary lineage,”The Learjet 85, a business jet made primarily from carbon composite materials, is the first to achieve a speed of Mach 0.82. It is also the largest and most luxurious Learjet ever built. This aircraft features top-notch avionics as well as a state of-the-art entertainment system that will be especially useful during transcontinental flights.

You have to believe Bill Lear would have approved.