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Aviation History
1976
1976 - 2830.PDF
COMMERCIAL FLIGHT International, 4 December 1976 1623 &BUSINESS Gulfstream III analysis H ow do you convert a transcontinental bizjet into a transatlantic airliner without putting up weight and size by a half and adding another engine or two? Answer: add elegant supercritical technology as developed by Dr Richard Whitcomb of iNasa and demonstrated so convincingly by Burt Rutan with his ingenious VariEze light aeroplane. Several years ago Grumman American canvassed its Gulfstream II customers to find out what they would like to see in a follow-on. High on the list was greater range, transatlantic performance in fact. The expansion of Ameri can companies into Europe and the rise of multi-national corporations continue at a brisk rate, increasing the need for face-to-face communications at almost every level of By the TECHNICAL EDITOR management. As an example, Pratt & Whitney parent com pany United Technologies recently put some of its shares on to the stock markets of a number of European capitals (see Flight for November 13, page 1401) after acquiring Otis Elevators, which has 24 of its 33 factories in Europe. Collaborative technology programmes such as JT10D, CFM56, ASMR, F-16, Spacelab and Intelsat also demand continuous movement between the two continents by relatively large numbers of people. In 1974, therefore, Grumman began to consider a longer- range Gulfstream. Not only had the new aircraft to have longer legs than the G.II but it also had to be faster—8J2hr was reckoned to be the longest that people could reason ably be expected to stay cooped up in a relatively small pressure shell. The company looked at substantially stretched developments powered by three and even four engines. But eventually Grumman recognised "that start ing with a clean sheet of paper would have been pro hibitive." The unit price would have been so high as to make it unacceptable to many potential customers, and the cost of development and certification could well have caused severe cash-flow problems. On the other hand, Gulfstream II owners were generally Burt Rutan's VariEze, below, has convincingly demonstrated the drag- reducing aerodynamics developed by Dr Whitcomb at Nasa. If the Gulfstream III goes ahead, it will be the first production example of a configuration which may become as familiar by the year 2000 as sweepback is now :;: ;;;;:::::: GRUMMAN GULFSTREAM II Si III Clllshaded J
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