Page 9 - Volume 20 Number 9

According to my report of the post- landing proceedings, “Completing the atmosphere of déjà vu, the CitationJet received a blanket of winner’s-circle roses across its nose, repeating a ceremony performed in 1969 when the Model 500 made its first hop under the name of Calumet Farm’s famous Kentucky Derby winning racehorse.” Obviously, I was getting paid by the word to wax eloquent. Actually, the magnificent Citation won the Triple Crown in 1948, not just the Derby.
At the CitationJet’s first-flight ceremony, Roy H. Norris predicted 1,000 CJ’s would be sold during the first ten years of production. He wasn’t far off the mark, thanks to the introduction of the CJ2 and its follow-on brethren. Some 359 of the original CitationJets were delivered before it was replaced by the CJ1, and eventually over 700 525s were built through 2011. Today, the straight 525 lives on as the M2. The CitationJet’s difficult first flight •turned out to be an entry into a highly-successful pro- duction life. T&T
SEPTEMBER 2016
TWIN & TURBINE • 7