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Bizjet,
Thanks for posting your new JetStar photos, especially that of 5202. It is sad for me to see the demise of JetStar 5202. This JetStar, registered N717 was delivered new to Allied Stores in 1976 and I think was the first JetStar 2 to go into commercial service.
When I was at Allied Stores around 1972 Lockheed was proposing restarting production with the updated JetStar, incorporating a lot of the changes that were done in the 731 re engine program, but because it was to be a new built airplane, other changes would be done as well. Lockheed hoped to sell the Air Force these new JetStars to replace the existing C 140 fleet, but the Air Force later decided to replace the JetStars with Gulfstream jets, starting with the G2
To lock in a production slot, Lockheed was accepting refundable deposits on the JetStar 2. 5201, the first Jetstar 2 was to be kept by Lockheed and used as the certification airplane, since the JetStar 2 was being built under an amendment to the earlier JetStar type certificate, all the had to be done for certification was the changes made to the airframe, not the entire airplane so one airframe was all that was needed.
5202 had a deposit from Ogden American Corporation, 5203 had a deposit from a foreign customer, and Allied Stores was assigned 5204, due to delays by Lockheed to finally start production, remember at this time they were totally involved with all the problems with the L 1011 TriStar, they held off announcing the commitment to start production of the JetStar 2. Allied Stores, to cover any cancellation of the JetStar 2 program, also signed a contract to re engine their existing JetStar 5009.
When Lockheed finally announced they were committing to the JetStar 2, both the foreign customer and Ogden American had already backed out, with Ogden buying a Gulfstream 2, so Allied Stores slot was moved up and they were assigned 5202.
The Chief Pilot of Allied Stores, a real conniver was playing games with Lockheed, every time Lockheed presented the contract, he would ask for something else incorporated into the airplane, Lockheed would agree, then have to re write the contract and it got to the point that Lockheed threatened to pull out of the deal and refund the deposit if Allied Stores did not sign the latest contract, which Allied Stores finally did.
Lockheed also used this airplane for the Paris Air Show in 1976 as a demo airplane. Allied Stores operated 5202 until about 1982 when they purchased a Gulfstream 3 and sold 5202. The Gulfstream, also carried the N717 number, was mentioned in another post on this thread about the owner of Federated Dept. Stores, which along with Allied Stores was taken over in a hostile takeover, merged and eventually forced into bankruptcy showing up in a hideously painted green and black G3, but so was 5202 and all its predecessors because the Chief Pilot loved that paint scheme.
I did not have much involvement with the JetStar 2, I was only there when they were proposing the new airplane, but when I left Allied Stores, I worked in the same hangar and saw this airplane there almost all the time.
I believe Allied Stores had the distinction of operating the first Jetstars to enter commercial service, I know that 5009 was bought new by Conoco in 1962 registered N540G and it beat by one day out of the completion centers the Gulf Oil JetStar 5007. Allied bought 5009 from Conoco around 1968 after Conoco bought a later production JetStar.
5009 was sold when 5202 was delivered in 1976 and would become the first JetStar scrapped in 1982 because of all the corrosion in the wings would have cost more to repair than what the airplane was worth.
Thanks for the memories
JetStar
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