For much of its history, Lockheed, and its successor, Lockheed Martin, is/was known primarily for their military aircraft. However, The Lockheed JetStar was Lockheed’s attempt to break into the corporate jet market.
As one of the first business jets, the Lockheed JetStar was originally quite successful, selling 202 copies of the aircraft over the course of 19 years. Even as the aircraft approaches its sixtieth birthday, there are still a few flying!
Development
In the late 1950’s, the USAF became interested in a small jet-powered aircraft that could be used as a basic trainer. On top of these trainer duties, it could be used to transport high ranking officers to and from the battlefield.
As such, Lockheed designed what it designated as the L-329, designed by famed Lockheed engineer Kelly Johnson, to suit this purpose. The USAF wanted an aircraft that was fast (for the size and era) and had a long range.
To do this, Johnson designed the L-329 with its iconic double rear-mounted engines, used on only two other aircraft since! However, budget cuts in the 1950’s caused the USAF cut costs, one of which was to cancel the program.
The late 1950’s and early 1960’s saw a huge increase in demand for small, jet-powered aircraft for corporate use. Some corporations had offices all over the world, often in cities where they needed several connecting flights to get to.
Seeing this as an opportunity to recoup their investment (as the L-329 had been privately funded by Lockheed), Lockheed chose to redesign certain aspects of the aircraft. From here, Lockheed would offer it to corporate buyers.
However, the internal company designation of L-329 wasn’t particularly catching, and sounded more like a military jet, than a corporate one. As such, a naming contest was hosted for a new name, JetStar was the winner.
Operational History
Whilst initially designed as a military transport and trainer, it was redesigned as a corporate jet. Regardless, it has been used in several different roles, including by civilian and military markets.
Civilian
The first JetStars were sold to some of America’s largest corporations. For the most part, these corporations received their aircraft in the early 1960’s, and continued to use them until the early-to-mid 1970’s.
Several celebrities of the era, including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and famed Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, operated JetStars at various points in history.
Following his departure from the White House, former President Richard Nixon would buy a JetStar to travel (as his exit from the White House made it impossible for him to travel without being accosted).
Eventually, Nixon would sell his JetStar, in favor of another aircraft. He sold his JetStar to royalty, the last Shah of Iran to be precise. The Shah would use this until he was overthrown.
Lockheed’s Skunk Works division, under both the administrations of Kelly Johnson and his successor, Ben Rich, operated the JetStar prototype for many years. This aircraft was flown to and from Lockheed’s various offices.
Many JetStars would also be used in the fleets of the first private jet charter companies. However, the JetStar was officially retired in 2019, after having been introduced in 1961.
Military
The USAF had initially cancelled the contract that the L-329 (eventually the JetStar) was designed for. However, upon seeing the JetStar enter service for many corporations, the USAF changed its mind.
Starting in 1961, the first of sixteen C-140s (the military designation for the Lockheed JetStar) would be delivered to the USAF. The original five would be used airport navigational aids (navaids) testers.
During the Vietnam War, several C-140As would be sent alongside other aircraft. Here, they would act as both navaids, and as long range communications relays, relaying information from the front lines to the Pentagon.
At the same time, the C-140B was used as a military transport, just as the L-329 had initially been designed to. These aircraft were based at Andrews Air Force Base for the entirety of their service.
In the 1960’s, several governments acquired the Lockheed JetStar as their short-range VIP transport. This included the US, Canada and Germany. The latter two would use their jets until the 1980’s.
Starting in the late 1960’s, mostly under the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, the USAF operated a single VC-140B occasionally as Air Force One. This VC-140B would be retired in the 1990’s with the other JetStars.
The last C-140s were retried in the early 1990’s.
Features
According to many accounts from the 1960’s, the Lockheed JetStar’s design was not too dissimilar from the other business jets of the era. And that is partly true.
Throughout much of the aircraft’s production, Lockheed marketed the JetStar as having one of the best cruising speeds and ranges of its era. This undoubtedly helped to sell many copies of the aircraft.
For a business jet of its size and era, the JetStar is one of only a few where you can stand upright in the cabin without needing to crouch (assuming that you are average height anyway!)
The JetStar was among the first aircraft of its size to have trim on the horizontal and vertical stabilizers. To do this, the aircraft has to pivot its entire tail fin and stabilizer assembly.
Unlike many of the original business jets, the Lockheed JetStar came fully equipped with a factory-designed internal baggage holder. This is something that many of its contemporaries simply did not have.
As with many other aircraft of its size and era, the JetStar has two external, wing-mounted fuel tanks.
Lockheed also marketed the aircraft as having one of the best views of any business jet due to its abnormally large windows. Even today, most business jet’s windows are not that big!
Price
In 1972, Lockheed listed the JetStar I at $2.8 million, which made it one of the most expensive business jets of its era. Today, that $2.8 million is worth roughly $17.5 million.
Despite the JetStar having officially made its last official flight in 2019, several JetStars continue to operate intermittently. Many aircraft collectors and museums are very interested in acquiring the Cadillac of old business jets.
JetStars generally sell for more than other old business jets. For the most part, older JetStar Is sell for around $300,000, whilst newer JetStar IIs sell for around $500,000.
With that being said, when Elvis Presley’s JetStar went to auction, the aircraft was valued at over $2 million. Other celebrity’s of the same era also owned JetStars, which helps to increase their value.
In terms of the cost to operate per hour, the JetStar was quite cheap, for its era. However, in modern terms, the JetStar is incredibly fuel inefficient, costing $6,707.36 per hour to operate (assuming you flew it for 400 hours per year).
Variants
Owing to the JetStar being among the first aircraft of its kind, corporations the world over wanted the JetStar. As such, it initially sold quite well, prompting Lockheed to develop several other variants of the JetStar…
JetStar I
The JetStar I was Lockheed’s first production variant of the Lockheed JetStar. Originally designated as the Lockheed L-329, for the USAF, it was eventually predesignated as the Lockheed JetStar.
As the first variant, it is considered to be the weakest and most uncompetitive variant, requiring a crew of two and carrying between eight and ten people depending on the configuration.
The aircraft was powered by four rear-mounted Pratt & Whitney JT12A-8 turbojets. This would serve as the basis for all future variants of the JetStar. Upon the release of the JetStar II, the L-329 would be known as the JetStar I.
JetStar II
The JetStar II was the second official variant of the Lockheed JetStar. Originally designated by Lockheed as the L-1329, it would be marketed as the Lockheed JetStar II.
In order to be more competitive, the JetStar II had more fuel efficient engines. With this, the fuel intake had to be redesigned, leading to the external, wing-mounted fuel tanks being redesigned too.
It was the first variant of the JetStar that required three crew members, due to its extended range. It is by far the most common civilian variant of the JetStar, with forty having been built.
JetStar 731
In the early 1980’s, several newer, more fuel efficient business jets such as the Learjet 35 and Learjet 45, were introduced. Their main advantage was that they had newer engines, which consumed much less fuel.
As such, Lockheed began to redesign parts of the Lockheed JetStar so that it could compete with these aircraft. Primarily, this new variant, later designated as the JetStar 731, had newer engines from the same family as before.
However, in doing so, a lot of the fuel intakes had to be redeveloped once again, as they were incompatible with one another. This also saw the wing-mounted, external fuel tanks be redeveloped as well (again).
C-140A
The C-140A was a militarized variant of the original JetStar I, primarily used by the USAF. The only real difference between the two aircraft was that the C-140A had a slightly decreased effective range.
For much of its military service, the C-140A acted as a navaids aircraft, for the USAF’s airbases across the world. However, for a brief period in the midst of the Vietnam War, it acted as a relay aircraft.
Due to this purpose, the C-140A initially had a business jet interior. However, later modifications removed many of the seats in the cabin in favor of computers.
C-140B
Much like the C-140A, the C-140B was a militarized variant of the JetStar II. Unlike the C-140A, the C-140B was just like the JetStar II, in the fact that it looked just like a business jet!
This was mostly due to the fact that USAF higher ups used the aircraft as their own personal jets. These could accommodate up to ten officers, for them to be personally transported to or away from the frontlines.
However, the C-140B was also a cargo aircraft. As such, its seats could be removed or covered with plastic sheets, in order to allow for cargo to be loaded on. the aircraft would occasionally act as medevac aircraft too.
Specifications
| Specifications | Lockheed JetStar II |
|---|---|
| Length | 60 ft 5 in (18.4 m) |
| Wingspan | 54 ft 5 in (16.6 m) |
| Height | 20 ft 5 in (6.2 m) |
| Crew | 3 |
| Passengers | 10 |
| Speed | 504 mph (811 km/h, 438 kn) |
| Range | 2,995 mi (4,820 km, 2,604 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 43,000 ft (13,105 m) |
| MTOW | 44,500 lb (20,185 kg) |
How Safe Was The Lockheed JetStar?
When it comes to the safest and most dangerous aircraft, private jets are often left off those lists. And this is for good reason- statistically, you’ll never fly on one, and they fly a lot less hours, than say, a 747.
Then there’s also the fact that legally speaking, the laws pertaining to the maintenance of business jets is very different to that of a commercial jet. Most maintain their jets to a high standard, but a few do not.
Reagrdless, for those flying on the Lockheed JetStar, we want to know how safe/dangerous it truly is!
In its almost 60 years in the skies, the Lockheed JetStar has actually been quite safe. After all, it has only ever had one crash, albeit one that did claim 12 lives.
The reason the JetStar crashed was down to poor maintenance on the part of the Iranian Air Force. Due to their hostilities towards the US, US companies, including Lockheed, can’t sell aircraft parts to Iran.
As such, it has had to cannibalize old aircraft in order to keep its JetStar fleet operational. However, these old aircraft aren’t JetStars, so these parts are jerry-rigged into place, and naturally, tend to fail.
This is what happened with this Iranian Air Force JetStar. This caused it to attempt an emergency landing, which caused it to crash, killing all twelve people onboard.
What’s it Like to Fly on The Lockheed JetStar?
Fortunately, I have flown on several variants of the JetStar during my time in both the in the military and for my previously held jobs.
For the most part, when I was flying on the aircraft nearing the end of its service, it was actually quite good. The aircraft themselves were over 25 years old, but you didn’t really notice that, apart from the decor.
Early jet aircraft of that era, including the first business jets, have a reputation for being a little choppy, especially when compared to modern day jets. However, I personally (even as a pilot!) barely noticed the difference!
Despite it being a private jet, I still found the seats rather comfy, even looking back on it now. This allowed me (and my colleagues) to continue to work, even whilst we were over the middle of nowhere!
I did find that the aircraft was quite fast, at least for the era. This was probably thanks to the dual, aft (rear)-mounted engines, which were subsequently used on much larger, British and Soviet airliners.
What do you think of the Lockheed JetStar? Have you ever flown on it? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Jerome via Flickr.
I enjoyed this article on the JetStar. I had a personal connection to the JetStar. John Doster would check out pilots in the JetStar, John gave me my private pilot license at Abe airport in October 1968.
— Dave Bollmann
Hi Dave,
That’s a really interesting story, I’d be interested in hearing your personal thoughts and opinions on the JetStar, do you agree with us or not?
I’ve got about 4000 hours in jetstar… The one that was retired in marietta in Dec 19 I flew for twelve years and designed the paint job… During the 90’s it was in the part 135 biz and I was the do. The jetstar was the nicest handling aircraft of all the things I’ve flown. Smooth even in turbulence. Safe? As long as it’s properly maintained I can’t think of a failure the would be catastrophic. Kelly was a genius.
I agree, Kelly Johnson was certainly one-of-a-kind.
From my experience, whilst certain areas were complex, the majority of the JetStar was fairly easy to maintain. It’s just a shame that Iran is no longer a US ally, otherwise they’d have benefitted from brand new Lockheed parts and knowhow, rather than skimping on parts like they did on the JetStar… which ultimately caused the IRIAF crash in the mid-90’s.