What am I, chopped liver? I also verified it.
Is this the blog you were referencing, Rob?
Gulfstream: Good as gold for 50 years
By Mary Carr Mayle
Created 2008-08-23 23:30
Fifty years ago this month, Grumman Aerospace test pilots Carl Alber and Fred Rowley took the twin-engine turboprop Gulfstream I - the first aircraft specifically designed for business travel - on its maiden flight over Grumman headquarters in Bethpage, N.Y. Half a century, 1,800 airplanes, numerous speed records and several name changes later, Gulfstream Aerospace is firmly entrenched in Savannah, where it’s preparing to roll out its newest business jet, the G650.
“The creation of the G-I would not have been possible 50 years ago without the dedicated and innovative people working at Grumman Aerospace,” said Gulfstream President Joe Lombardo.
“Fifty years later, our employees still make the difference in manufacturing the safest, most reliable and most technologically advanced business jets in the world.”
After that first flight, the Gulfstream I - named after the ocean current that flows along the coast of Florida, a favorite vacation spot of Grumman executives - underwent about 800 hours of additional testing. The G-I received Federal Aviation Administration certification on May 21, 1959, and, shortly after, delivered the first finished plane to Sinclair Oil.
While the G-I was designed specifically for business travel, it also saw service with five U.S. government agencies and all branches of the armed forces. When Grumman was selected by NASA to produce the Lunar Module, a G-I was outfitted with a cargo door to help transport some of the assemblies.
Moving to Savannah
The G-I’s success in the business world prompted Grumman to begin development of the Gulfstream II, the first jet-powered corporate aircraft, and to separate the company’s civil and military aircraft production to improve efficiency.
In April 1966, under an agreement with the cities of Savannah and Port Wentworth, Grumman acquired 110 acres at Travis Field and relocated its civilian component to Chatham County.
There the company found the needed supply of skilled labor, an established airfield next to the plant site and sufficient acreage for expansion. Mild weather favorable to year-round flight-testing and flight-training operations further enhanced Savannah’s appeal.
The new facility, designed to house production and flight testing for the Gulfstream II, was dedicated in September 1967, and the original, 100-person work force grew to more than 1,700 within a few years.
Today, Gulfstream, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics Inc., designs, builds and services a line of luxury business jets, including the large-cabin, mid-range G350; the large-cabin, long-range G450; the large-cabin, ultra-long-range G500; and the large-cabin, ultra-long-range G550 - all of which are built at its Savannah headquarters.
Gulfstream’s net sales for 2007 topped $4.8 billion, up 17.3 percent over 2006. At $810 million in 2007, the company’s operating earnings set an all-time record, some 26 percent better than the year before.
A wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), Gulfstream currently has more than 5,000 employees in Savannah.
“Gulfstream’s impact on Savannah and the surrounding area continues to be huge on a number of levels,” said Bill Hubbard, president of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce.
"Certainly, Gulfstream has proven itself an outstanding corporate citizen with a global reputation that is unsurpassed. There’s no doubt they have helped put Savannah on the map as far as international business is concerned.
“Economically, the numbers speak for themselves,” Hubbard said. “And their commitment to Savannah, with the expansion of their facilities and the announcement that they will build the G650 here, assures us they will be here for 50 more years.”
(This is the printer friendly version of the article - no debug errors)
The article doesn’t mention that some airlines also operated the G1. Royale was one. There were also a few cargo airlines that operated them.