Who had a private jet before Frank Sinatra?
score:4
One of the earliest owners of a private jet was Harold Vanderbilt whose wife can be seen pictured here on December 1, 1961 leaving a Lockheed Jetstar "to be delivered soon". Other early (maybe earlier) owners of private jets include Armand Hammer and (inevitably) Howard Hughes, but I've been unable to find specific dates.
As the owner of the charter company Trans International Airlines, Kirk Kerkorian owned jets from November 1962 so this qualifies him as one of the "individual owners of jet aircraft". He "offered the first jet service on a nonscheduled airline" but I haven't found evidence that he used any of them for himself.
As noted by the OP, Frank Sinatra acquired a Learjet in June 1965, but he seems to have been a difficult customer as he apparently had more than 20 test flights before buying one for $495,000 (this was the list price, but it wouldn't be surprising if he got a discount). James Brown also bought a Learjet in 1965 (I haven't been able to establish the month though), thereby becoming the first African-American to own a private jet.
Musician James Brown with his Learjet. Image source: Hush-Kit
The first Learjet sale, though, was not to an individual:
Following the receipt of certification on 31 July the first production Lear Jet 23 was delivered on 13 October 1964 to the Chemical and Industrial Corporation of Cincinnati, Ohio.
As yannis mentions in his comment, there is one possible owner who may trump all others. Unproven (though worth mentioning as it concerns the chief engineer of the Jetstar) but possibly the first owner of a private jet was Lockheed engineer Kelly Johnson. The plane in question was the first prototype with two engines (subsequent planes had four engines). This Lockheed Jetstar article (like several other sources) calls it Johnson's "personal plane", adding
In it, he flew from Burbank to meetings in the Pentagon, or to supervise the activities of his many secret projects at Groom Lake in the famed "Area 51."
First Jetstar prototype, registration N329J (apparently, the J stands for 'Johnson'). Image source: rbogash
This Jalopnik article says much the same:
Kelly Johnson used the prototype JetStar as his personal aircraft in the 1950’s, using it to transit from the Skunk Works facility in Burbank, California to the famous test facility known as Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nevada as well as the Washington, D.C. area for meetings at the Pentagon. The prototype’s registration, N329J, references both the company’s designation for the type (L-1329) as well as Johnson’s name.
More post
- 📝 Why was the Republican government of Spain so slow to react to the Nationalist revolt?
- 📝 What happened to people's houses during the Soviets' reign?
- 📝 How were settlers' houses in Kamchatka built?
- 📝 What resources did the Nahua value most at the time of Spanish conquest?
- 📝 Why didn't the Ottomans conquer (what is now known as) Morocco?
- 📝 What was the age distribution in the Bronze Age? How do I find out?
- 📝 What is the most historically prevalent reason of states dissolving, other than military activity?
- 📝 Native peoples of North and South America impressions of Europeans
- 📝 Tolstoy's view of history
- 📝 Were slave armies used?
- 📝 Are there ways to measure "how much power did "Russia" lose when the Soviet Union broke up?"
- 📝 How was the United States able to produce excellent tanks in 1942?
- 📝 What percentage of Jews were in "finance" (money-lenders) throughout Middle Ages?
- 📝 Did a sumo referee ever actually commit ritual suicide over a reversed decision?
- 📝 Can anyone identify this warship?
- 📝 When, where, why did clean shaving for men become the norm?
- 📝 Was Karl Doenitz repatriated to Germany after WW1 "as insane"?
- 📝 Help identify ship, possibly from New York area
- 📝 Naming of (strategic) hills on a map as numbers (example Hill 60)
- 📝 What is the extent to which Malcolm X's activism was influenced by his Muslim beliefs?
- 📝 What options India had other than getting its independence from Britain?
- 📝 Can Bill Clinton run for president of France?
- 📝 Why did King Arthur have such a great influence in Brittany?
- 📝 How were peasant houses constructed in medieval England?
- 📝 Were members of Soviet Republican Communist Parties also members of the CPSU?
- 📝 Did the territories officially choose a side to support in the American Civil War?
- 📝 What was the name of the region, Somalia, British Somalia or British Somaliland?
- 📝 Long time to reach news in Thirty Years' War
- 📝 Why did non-monarchic rule meet with so little success in ancient China?
- 📝 What was the relationship between Indian caste system and martial skills?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Who had a private jet before Frank Sinatra?
- 📝 Could someone who had joined a monastery decide to leave?
- 📝 Who had the shortest time in going from imprisonment to head of state within democratic processes?
- 📝 Had there been instances of national states banning harmful imports before the mid-19th C Opium Wars?
- 📝 Who advised FDR on foreign policy before and during WWII?
- 📝 Before Idriss Deby, who was the last head of state to be killed in combat?
- 📝 Had the French in Paris started to learn German before their liberation in 1944?
- 📝 Who were the Catholic popes before Francis I who used names not of Latin, Greek or Jewish origin?
- 📝 Who said that Saddam Hussein had WMDs?
- 📝 Who were Dalits and Brahmins in ancient India before law of Manusmriti was imposed on Indian society?
- 📝 Were there any Frankish/French kings who probably had no extramarital sexual relations?
- 📝 Who were the chief executives of the United States in the thirteen years before George Washington?
- 📝 Who of the British military had access to the ULTRA messages of the Enigma in September 1944?
- 📝 Had the Chinese leadership considered the famine in Soviet Union in 1930s before starting the Great Leap Forward?
- 📝 Were there any important spies in modern history who had to conceal their true nationality (or culture)?
- 📝 What had caused Northumbrian to become similar to Old Danish before the Viking invasions?
- 📝 Are there any famous people who died from cancer before 1800?
- 📝 Were there women who were against giving women the right to vote?
- 📝 What were paper airplanes called before there were real airplanes? (i.e. untethered winged flyers, not kites or balloons)
- 📝 How was law enforcement handled in large US cities before professional police?
- 📝 Were any Kings/Queens who were monarchs as children good rulers?
- 📝 Were Roman public roads built by private companies?
- 📝 Were Hitler's anti-Jewish sentiments known at all to those who voted him to power in 1933?
- 📝 Why did Britain not purchase Alaska when Russia had it up for sale?
- 📝 Why was it "acceptable" for Prince Charles to marry a divorced woman, when Edward VIII had to abdicate for marrying divorcee Wallis Simpson?
- 📝 How did people wash dishes before dish detergent?
- 📝 What did babies eat before the advent of modern blenders?
- 📝 Has the United States ever had a non-Christian President?
- 📝 Which monarch had the longest break in their reign?
- 📝 Who first called natural satellites "moons"?