William P. “Bill” Lear was a prolific inventor with dozens of patents for a variety of machines to his name but is most famous for his work in the aviation field. He produced the Learjet, the first mass-produced business jet, and the Lear Fan, an innovative turboprop plane built from lightweight composite materials. He also helped to develop autopilot and automatic landing systems for jets. But his interests went beyond aviation: he is also known for being the inventor of the 8-track tape cartridge, the car radio, and innovative developments on turbine motors.

Born on June 26, 1902 in Hannibal, Missouri, Bill Lear had a humble background that would belie his later success. His father, Reuben Lear (1878-1955), a teamster and builder, struggled to support his family and had a tumultuous relationship with his wife, Gertrude Elizabeth Powell Lear (1884-1934), and they eventually separated. As a boy Lear taught himself things like electrical engineering and experimented on his own with building radio receivers. Though he never received a high school diploma, his childhood fascination with radios led to work in the field. He lied about his age in order to join the U.S. Navy at age 16. After a brief stint in the Navy and some early business partnerships, he founded his first company, Lear Radio Laboratories. During the Great Depression of the 1920s, Lear’s engineering savvy and business acumen provided him with great success at a time when others struggled. He invented the first practical car radio and the first radio remote control, the “Lazy Boy.” It was during this time that he also bought his first airplane, inspiring him to turn his sights toward flight navigation. Lear invented the Lear-o-scope which allowed pilots to navigate via radio. The Lear-o-scope was used by Amelia Earhart to help her fly from Los Angeles to Mexico City and from there on record-setting flights to New York and Washington, D.C. Lear continued to design navigational devices under his company Lear Avia Inc. with orders from airline companies all over the world.

By 1945 his company had transformed into Lear, Incorporated. Among their products was the Learecorder, cited by the New York Times as “the most versatile home musical reproduction machine ever built.” While the market for his music record and navigation equipment was limited, electromechanical sales kept the company afloat. Lear turned to developing autopilot systems determined to make flying, especially military flight, safer. This led to the development of the F-5 autopilot, for which he won the 1950 Collier Trophy. In the early 1950s, Lear bought a Lockheed Lodestar and massively redesigned it, renaming it Learstar. Its maiden flight was on May 10, 1954 and it was the first reconditioned aircraft to receive Civil Aeronautics Association certification as an airline transport plane. The Learstar was also the fastest twin-engine transport with the longest range under production at the time.

Lear moved his family to Switzerland in 1959 to break into the European market and successfully sold his automatic flight control system for use in Fokker, Fiat, Saab and Caravelle aircraft. Due to disagreements over the design of what would become his iconic Learjet with the Lear Incorporated board, he was forced out of the company in 1960. He then founded yet another company, Swiss American Aviation Corporation, originally based in Switzerland, to continue to develop the Learjet as he envisioned it. Just two years later, Lear renamed the company Lear Jet Corporation and relocated to Wichita, Kansas to build the Learjet which he dreamed would be a lightweight, efficient, and luxurious small business aircraft. The first flight was on October 7, 1963. Just after the Learjet Model 23 was FAA-certified and the company began trading publicly, Lear was inspired by a 4-track automobile dashboard-mounted tape player to improve on the technology, and began work on what would become the 8-track cassette player. His machine was smaller, simpler, and cheaper than the existing options. With new patents acquired, he marketed his radio-tape-player combination, striking a deal with RCA and Ford Motor Company. After selling Lear Jet Corp. to the Gates Rubber Company in April 1967, Lear moved to Reno, Nevada where he switched gears and turned to both land development and steam-powered cars, attempting to improve upon the combustion engine with a steam-powered design.

In his seventies by this point, he suffered from numerous physical ailments which brought on depression, affecting his business ventures. Despite flagging health and because of failures with his steam-motor endeavors, he turned back to aviation. In 1976, he struck a deal with Canadair to develop the LearStar 600, a small, long-distance business jet. Canadair bought the design and evetually renamed the aircraft the Challenger CL-600. Lear worked on the development of the Lear Allegro design, as an improvement on the LearStar 600, hoping to also enter a deal with Canadair. However, they had no interest in the Allegro and ultimately none were ever built. It was then Lear began work on the Lear Fan, a plane innovative because of its all-composite body, Y-shaped tail, and pusher-style propeller.

After three previous marriages and many affairs, Bill Lear had married Moya Olsen in 1942. Though she was not involved in his business at first, she “exerted a stabilizing influence on his volatile life.” In later companies, she held board and executive positions. With his health rapidly declining in the 1970s and the Lear Fan still in development, Lear set up a trust to ensure the continued development of the Lear Fan after his death. Lear eventually died from leukemia in Reno on May 14, 1978. Moya retained a role in the company, as Chairman of the Board, to ensure fulfillment of Bill’s vision. Despite the innovative design of the plane and further investments, the Lear Fan never received FAA certification or went into production.

Over the course of his life Lear received many awards. Among them were the 1950 Collier Trophy from the National Aeronautic Association; the Cresson Medal of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia; the Frank M. Hawks Award for an outstanding contribution to aircraft navigation; the 1954 Horatio Alger Award; the Silver Medal of Paris in 1960; and the bronze Thulin Medal from the Swedish Aeronautical Society. While his varied career was full of ups and downs and not all of his ideas came to fruition, biographer Richard Rashke writes, “Lear’s contribution to general aviation…was significant. He and his engineers had pioneered generation after generation of instruments. But even more important, Lear almost single-handedly dragged the whole industry forward with him, challenging its concepts, expanding its horizons, forcing it to see his vision and to improve its products.”

Sources:

“Bill Lear.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, June 30, 2022. Accessed August 2, 2022. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lear.

Rashke, Richard. Stormy Genius: The Life of Aviation's Maverick, Bill Lear. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985.

“William P. Lear.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Accessed August 9, 2022. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/333965/William-P-Lear.

Lear, Moya. An Unforgettable Flight. Reno: Jack Bacon and Company, 1996.

Moya Olsen Lear was a philanthropist, businesswoman, and the wife of aviation pioneer Bill Lear.

Moya Marie Olsen was born on March 27, 1915 in Chicago, Illinois to John Sigvard “Ole” Olsen (1892-1963), a famous vaudevillian, and Lillian Louise (Clem) Olsen (1890-1990). She attended Ohio State University for a single year and then studied shorthand and typing at Pace Institute in New York. In her own words, Moya worked as a “Girl Friday” (office assistant) for her father on his Broadway show, Hellzapoppin’. It was here, through her father's show, she met Bill Lear.

Moya and Bill's first meeting had been brief; Lear had come backstage at the 46th Street Theater one night, in September 1938, to offer his regards to Olsen for the evening's show and her father introduced the two. She wrote, "No angels sang. No bells chimed. No fireworks went off." It was just a quick greeting and they parted. However, on their second meeting on December 24th, 1938 Bill invited Moya out for a drink and their relationship took off.

Moya married Bill Lear in 1942, becoming his fourth wife. In spite of Bill's infidelities, she "loved Bill with an intense, unconditional love" and the couple had four children together (John, Shanda, David, and Tina) in addition to Lear’s children from previous marriages (Mary Louise, Bill, Jr., and Patti). Although Bill gave Moya a place as a board member for his various companies, she remained mostly only tangentially involved in his work during his lifetime, primarily acting as a welcoming, stable, and supportive presence to Lear and his partners, employees, and contacts. After Lear’s death, Moya was made Chairman of the Board of LearAvia Corporation, the parent company of Lear Fan, and attempted to take his final project, the Lear Fan, through completion and FAA certification, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Moya was active in many philanthropic causes, particularly in the Reno, Nevada area where the Lears lived near the end of their lives, including serving on the boards of the Nevada Opera Association, the Nevada Festival Ballet and the Sierra Arts Foundation. She established the Bill and Moya Lear Foundation Scholarship Fund and used her Amelia Earhart Pioneering Achievement Award to fund scholarships for women majoring in aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where she also established the Moya and Bill Lear Endowed Scholarship.

Moya received many honors, including her inductions into the halls of fame of such organizations as the Women in Aviation Pioneers, the United States Achievement Academy, Nevada Business Leaders and the Nevada Women’s Fund. She also received six honorary doctorate degrees: Doctor of Humane Letters from National University and University of Nevada, Reno; Doctor of Laws from Northrop University, Pepperdine University and Clemson University; and Doctor of Aviation Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She was also the first winner of the Katharine Wright Memorial Award from the National Aeronautic Association in 1981.

Moya Olsen Lear died on December 5, 2001 in Washoe, Nevada.

Sources:

Lear, Moya. An Unforgettable Flight. Reno: Jack Bacon and Company, 1996.

"Memorializing Aviation Pioneer and Philanthropist Moya Lear." Nevada Legislature. March 26, 2003. Accessed November 18, 2020. https://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/72nd2003/Journal/Senate/Final/sj052.html.

"Philanthropist widow of Learjet developer dies at 86." Napa Valley Register. December 7, 2001. Accessed November 18, 2020. hhttps://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/obituaries/philanthropist-widow-of-learjet-developer-dies-at-86/article_7ec9325e-a668-51c1-b877-82d1289d7aeb.html.

Rashke, Richard. Stormy Genius: The Life of Aviation's Maverick, Bill Lear. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985.

John Sigvard "Ole" Olsen (1892-1963) was an American vaudevillian and comedian, who was part of the Olsen and Johnson comedy team, and father to Moya Olsen Lear, wife of William P. Lear.

John Sigvard "Ole" Olsen was born on November 6, 1892 in Peru, Indiana. Olsen began his career as a musical performer and played the violin. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1912, and then performed in the Chicago area as a musician and singer. In 1914 he met Harold Ogden "Chic" Johnson and the two began a vaudeville act. Their most famous production was the stage musical Hellzapoppin. Along with vaudeville, the duo performed their routines via radio, the Broadway stage, motion pictures and television. They were active until the early 1950s at which point they were performing in Las Vegas, Nevada, when an illness caused Chic Johnson to retire. Olsen went on to perform solo for a short time though a 1950 car accident had left him with some injuries. Following that accident, he lived with his daughter Moya and her husband Bill Lear for some time.

Olsen was married twice. With his first wife, Lillian Clem, he had four children: John Charles, Robert, Joy, and Moya. Ole and Lillian later divorced and in 1961, he married Eileen Maria Osthoff, a choreographer and dancer.

On January 26, 1963, Ole Olsen died in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the age of 70 of a kidney ailment. He is interred in Palm Desert Memorial in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a grave adjoining that of his vaudeville partner, Chic Johnson.

Biography derived from collection materials and Wikipedia.com