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TOP 5 JET PLANES |
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Gulfstream: Gulfstream Aerospace Corp builds jet aircraft. The company has been part of General Dynamics since 2001 and has built over 1,500 aircraft for customers worldwide, for private, corporate, government, or military applications.
The Gulfstream brand made its first appearance in 1957, when Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp completed its design for the Gulfstream I (GI); a turboprop-driven jet and the first aircraft intended by Grumman to target commercial applications; previously Grumman had been known for producing military aircraft. The GI made its maiden flight on 14 August 1958 and was such a success that Grumman went on to develop the Gulfstream II (GII), a turbojet-powered aircraft for corporate use.
Grumman split up its civil and military aircraft production in 1967, and relocated the Gulfstream corporate jet division to Savannah, Georgia. Situated at the Savannah airport, Grumman’s new facility was the site of both manufacture and flight-testing for the Gulfstream II, with a workforce of 100 people. By the end of 1968, well over 1,000 were on the payroll.
The delivery of the 200th and last Gulfstream took place in 1969. In the course of the 1970s, production of its successor rose until 1977, when the 256th and final Gulfstream II was delivered.
In 1978 Grumman sold the Gulfstream line, and all the company’s Savannah operations, to American Jet Industries, which was headed by then unknown aviation entrepreneur Allen Paulson. Paulson became the president and CEO of the new acquisition and renamed it Gulfstream American Corp. Paulson made development of the Gulfstream III a priority, and the GIII completed its maiden flight in December 1979. Acquisition of Rockwell’s Aero Commander program rounded out Gulfstream American.
The Gulfstream facility in Savannah continued to expand, employing 2,500 people by 1982. That same year a new company name, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp, was adopted and development of a new plane, the Gulfstream IV, commenced. The company went public on 8 April 1983. In 1985, Chrysler Corp acquired Gulfstream as part of its drive for diversification. In 1989, Paulson joined forces with Forstmann Little & Co and bought the company back for US$825 million.
During the 1990s Gulfstream kept on growing, signing a five-year contract with NetJets in 1994. The company launched the Gulfstream V in 1995, and began simultaneous production of the Gulfstream IV-SP and the Gulfstream V two years later. In 1999, a bid of US$5 billion by General Dynamics for Gulfstream was endorsed by the shareholders.
In 2001, Gulfstream acquired Galaxy Aerospace and re-branded that company’s then-current aircraft model line: the mid-size Astra SPX became the G100 and the super mid-size Galaxy was renamed the G200. In 2002 the company re-branded all its aircraft using Arabic numerals. Thus the Gulfstream V became the G550, while the Gulfstream IV became the G300 and the Gulfstream IV-SP was renamed the G400.
Gulfstream received the 2003 Collier Trophy (awarded in 2004) for its development of the G550. This is the first civil aircraft whose standard equipment incorporates an enhanced vision system (EVS). The G350, a short-range version of the G450, was unveiled in March of the same year.
In 2005 Gulfstream became the first builder of corporate jets to provide an ultra-high-speed internet connection, dubbed BBML (Broad-Band Multi-Link), in flight. With partners Lockheed-Martin and NASA, Gulfstream developed and patented the Quiet Spike, a telescopic nose device designed to attenuate the effects of the sonic boom when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier.
The year 2006 witnessed the end of production for the G100 after 22 years, and its replacement by the G150. Gulfstream also announced its intention to expand its Savannah plant: the seven-year, US$400 million plan features a new sales and design center, a 58,030 m² (625,000 ft²) service center, and over 1,100 new jobs. The company is presently developing the G250, an improved version of the G200; type certification is due in 2011. The G100/G150/G200/G250 are developed and manufactured in association with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
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Dassault: Dassault Aviation is a French company that manufacturers jet aircraft for military, regional, and corporate applications. It is a subsidiary of Dassault Group.
Marcel Bloch founded Dassault in 1930 under the name of Société des Avions (“Aircraft Company”) Marcel Bloch, or “MB.” In 1935 Bloch bought Société Aérienne Bordelaise (“Bordeaux Air Company”) (SAB) together with Henry Potez; SAB was subsequently renamed Société Aéronautique du Sud-Ouest (“South-East Aeronautic Company”). In 1936 the French Front Populaire government nationalized the aviation industry, merging companies under the name Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Ouest (SNCASO). Bloch stayed on as a director at the request of air minister Pierre Cot.
The aviation industry of France virtually evaporated under German occupation. The Vichy government detained Bloch and his family in October 1940 for his refusal to collaborate with the occupying forces. They were held in concentration camps in France before being deported to Buchenwald in Germany in 1944, to be released only when that concentration camp was liberated on 11 April 1945.
Bloch changed his name to Dassault in 1946 and on 20 January 1947, changed the name of his company from Société des Avions Marcel Bloch to Avions Marcel Dassault.
The company created an electronics division in 1954 to develop airborne radar equipment. It went on to construct seeker heads for air-to-air missiles as well as applications for navigation and bombing. From the 1950s to late 1970s, much of the company business revolved around exports; the Assault Mirage series and the Mystère-Falcon were particularly successful.
In hopes of maintaining the competitiveness of its defense industry, from 1965 to 1966 the French government prioritized specialization among its defense suppliers. Nord Aviation was encouraged to concentrate on ballistic missiles; Sud Aviation on helicopters and civil and military transport aircraft; Dassault on combat and corporate aircraft.
Again receiving encouragement from the French government, Dassault bought 66 % of Breguet Aviation on 27 June 1967. The deal brought about the dissolution of Société des Avions Marcel Dassault on 14 December 1971. Its assets were vested in Breguet, which was renamed Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation (AMD-BA). |
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Bombardier: Bombardier Aerospace, a division of Bombardier Inc, is the world’s third largest selling company in the field of aeronautic construction and fourth largest by annual output of commercial aircraft. The company is based in Dorval, Quebec.
The aerospace division was created when Bombardier Inc acquired Canadair Ltd from the Canadian Government in 1986. Despite successes in sales, Canadair had previously recorded what was then the largest deficit in history for any Canadian company due to the economic recession earlier in the 1980s.
After taking on Canadair and turning it around, Bombardier acquired a reputation for rescuing financially struggling companies; thus, in 1989 it bought Short Brothers, an aircraft builder’s company in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. In 1990 the bankrupt Learjet Co of Wichita, Kansas, and its famous corporate jet followed; as did, in 1992, Boeing’s flagging subsidiary de Havilland Aircraft of Canada, based in Toronto, Ontario.
Learjet has continued building jets under its own name as a subsidiary of Bombardier. |
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Boeing: The Boeing Co, one of the largest American aerospace and defense corporations, was originally founded under the name Pacific Aero Products Co by William E. Boeing on 15 July 1916 in Seattle, Washington. It was renamed Boeing Airplane Co on 9 May 1917. After acquiring various firms throughout its history, the company merged with McDonnell Douglas in August 1997 and adopted the name The Boeing Company. Corporate headquarters were transferred to Chicago, Illinois from Seattle in September 2001.
The largest divisions of Boeing are Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) and Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS). Further divisions are Boeing Capital; Boeing Shared Services Group; and Engineering, Operations & Technology.
Worldwide, in terms of revenue, orders, and aircraft deliveries, Boeing is the largest aircraft manufacturer; and the third largest aerospace and defense contractor by defense-related revenue.
The Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) series target the corporate jet market. Generously configured, as they are based on commercial Boeing airliners – starting with the 737 series – these luxuriously appointed aircraft generally seat from 25 to 50 passengers. Features may include an office/conference area, master bedroom, washroom and shower, dining facilities, and entertainment areas. A joint effort of Boeing Commercial Airplanes and General Electric (GE), the Boeing Business Jet was born from a 1996 dinner conversation between the Chairman of GE and the CEO of Boeing.
Every Boeing BBJ consists of an underlying 737 commercial airframe that has been modified for private jet service. The BBJ1 is based on a 737-700 airframe, with elements from the 737-800. The BBJ2 and BBJ3 are based on the 737-800 and 737-900ER (extended range) series, respectively. |
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Cessna: One of the most familiar names in private and corporate aviation, the Cessna Aircraft Co is based in Wichita, Kansas. The company is best known for manufacturing single and double-engine propeller planes, but it has also been building corporate aircraft – usually jet-powered – since 1965. Cessna is a subsidiary of Textron, an American conglomerate.
Clyde Cessna, the founder of the company, was a farmer from Rago, Kansas. in June 1911 He built “Silverwing,” his first aircraft, out of wood and linen, and flew it from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains; the first person ever to do so.
Cessna went on to build numerous monoplanes in Enid, Oklahoma, using the nearby salt flats to test his early aircraft. He moved to Wichita after Enid banks rejected his requests for more money to build planes.
After serving in the First World War, Cessna came back to tend his parents’ farm. He returned to aviation in 1924, partnering with Lloyd C. Stearman and Walter H. Beech to found Travel Air Manufacturing Co, Inc, in Wichita and build biplanes. After some early successes in that company, Clyde Cessna left Travel Air in January 1927 to go into business with his own company, Cessna Aircraft Co, and concentrate on manufacturing monoplanes instead. The first one took to the air on 13 August 1927.
The recession forced Cessna Aircraft Co to stop production from 1932 to 1934. Dwane Wallace then took over the company with the help of his brother Dwight and starting turning Cessna into a world famous name.
The company started manufacturing the 170 model following World War II. This plane and its successors, the 172 in particular, were built in greater numbers than any other light aircraft in history. In 1972 Cessna became the first manufacturer ever to build 100,000 aircraft. Plane number 100,000 was among 24 different Cessna models to be exhibited at Transpo ’72, near Washington, DC. According to Cessna's advertising, the company has delivered more aircraft – over 190,000 by the end of 2008 – than has any other company.
General Dynamics Corp bought Cessna in 1985; Textron Inc acquired Cessna in 1992. On 27 November 2007, Textron announced Cessna had bought the – bankrupt – Columbia Aircraft Co in Bend, Oregon for US$26.4 million, and would keep on producing the Columbia 350 and 400 under the Cessna 350 and Cessna 400 designations respectively at the Bend site.
Cessna’s range of aircraft presently includes 2, 4 and 6-seater single-engined airplanes, larger capacity or utility turboprops, and business jets. |
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