The Mystère 20’s first flight marked the beginning of the business jet era for Dassault.
ability. Military contracting had made M. Dassault one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in France, and doubtlessly one of the most envied. As successful as the firm was at producing high per- formance fighter jets, M. Dassault became increasingly concerned about the mercurial swings in defense con- tracting, so he started exploring the nascent business jet market in the mid 1950s. Developments of the Mo- rane-Saulnier Paris Jet, Lockheed Jetstar, and McDon- nell 119/220 were well underway, and M. Dassault didn’t want to watch from the sidelines. This did not sit well with his senior engineering team, as its members saw no need for Dassault Aviation to deviate from well-proven military aircraft programs. LAUNCHING THE BUSINESS JET Dassault’s first business jet concept was the 1954 Médi- terranée. The 10-seat airplane was to have a mid-mount- ed wing using a conical camber airfoil adapted from the Mystère IV. It would be powered by Dassault’s own R.7 Farandole turbojets—30 percent higher thrust versions of Bristol Siddeley Vipers—mounted in pods under the wing. However, the Méditerranée never left the drawing table as Dassault determined it would be too costly to develop and too fuel thirsty. The firm’s senior engineers, outside of Marcel Dassault, felt vindicated in their oppo- sition to business jets. Five years later, Dassault began to morph the Méditer- ranée into the Mystère 100, a variation with a low wing and aft-mounted engines. In 1961, the Mystère 20 con- cept, a derivative of Mystère 100, began to evolve. When Pratt & Whitney’s new and more fuel efficient JT12D tur- bojets became available, M. Dassault quickly pushed for
development of the Mystère 20 prototype. It was ready for its maiden flight in May 1963, much to the dismay of Dassault’s senior engineers and market research staff. Marcel Dassault had his business jet, but he wasn’t about to spend millions of francs on economic “indus- trialization,” a French term for full-scale development of the jet, without a launch customer. Coincidentally, Juan Trippe, Pan American World Air- ways founder and chairman, also needed a suitable small jet in 1960 with which to start Pan Am’s Business Jet Di- vision (BJD), a new arm of the company that would sell and distribute corporate aircraft. Pan Am needed an air- craft that specifically fit the needs of its North American customer demographic—coast-to-coast range with one fuel stop, eight-passenger payload with full fuel, and near jetliner cruise speed. Trippe tapped Charles Lindbergh to be Pan Am’s tech- nical adviser, who, together with Al Ueltschi, Trippe’s personal pilot, Pan Am chief engineer John Berger and others, evaluated several candidate aircraft for suitabil- ity. Lindbergh, standing 6-foot-3, put top priority on cab- in comfort and roominess. That ruled out the tiny Mo- rane-Saulnier MS-760 Paris Jet, the new Learjet 23, and the Sabreliner 40. The Lockheed L-1329 JetStar was plenty big enough inside, but it had the girth of a small jetliner and four fuel-thirsty turbojets to feed. Lindbergh’s team narrowed the candidates to the Hawker Siddeley HS.125 (nèe de Havilland DH.125 Jet Dragon) and the Mystère 20, larger than Jet Dragon with a more accommodating cabin. Both the HS.125 and Mystère 20 had maximum ranges less than 1,000 nm, far too short to meet Pan Am’s needs.
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