10 of the coolest private jets – and some of the famous people that own them

8: Gulfstream American Hustler

Business jets often follow in the technological wake of military aircraft; the Hustler did so, but followed an idea that never really worked so well for the military (with a couple of notable exceptions). The technology in question was mixed propulsion.

In the 1940s, the jet engine was in its infancy and struggled to deliver the power or range performance required. Designers realised that adding a rocket engine could boost the power for taking off or climbing at high speeds, while adding an additional piston or turboprop engine of greater efficiency could boost endurance.

8: Gulfstream American Hustler

There are several problems with mixed-power aircraft, notably levels of maintenance, complexity, cost and weight. This was generally learned by the late 1950s in military circles but clearly not by Gulfstream in the late 1970s. The Hustler had a nose-mounted turboprop and a tail-mounted turbofan, and it was promoted as having great efficiency and being able to fly at high altitudes.

The Hustler had luxurious hand-stitched leather seats and soon attracted orders from the rich, keen for the latest gizmo. But there were too many expensive issues to fix, and it was abandoned – just one was built. Despite this, we love the peculiar 1980s glamour of the Hustler and it has earned a place in our list.

7: Dassault Falcon 900

The Falcon 20 of 1963 spawned a whole series of high-performance business jets, one of the most advanced being the Falcon 900, a development of the similarly three-engined Falcon 50. We will not pretend to hide our love of three-engined aircraft, with their slightly kooky central engine at the base of the tail.

Singer Taylor Swift seems to love French aircraft, flying in both a Dassault Falcon 900LX (pictured) and a Falcon 7X. The 900LX is a highly luxurious choice, and the listed price for one is an eye-watering $45 million. For this you get speed, safety, efficiency, luxury, and a very beautiful aeroplane.

7: Dassault Falcon 900

The Falcon can carry up to 14 passengers extremely swiftly, at up to Mach 0.87. As we are taking coolness, the Falcon has, as mentioned, extra points for being three-engined. The Falcon 900 incorporates composite materials, a technology Dassault have long been involved with - indeed its Mirage 4000 fighter of 1979 featured the first composite tailfin.

Dassault launched what became the Falcon 7X (pictured) at the 2001 Paris Air Show, to create a longer-ranged Falcon able to travel 10,500km (5700 nautical miles) range at Mach 0.88 (slightly faster than the 900’s Mach 0.84). The advanced Falcons offer among the most efficient and decadent business jet experience available today.

6: Bombardier Global 8000

The Global 8000 is claimed to be the world’s fastest operational civilian aircraft with a normal top speed of Mach 0.94. It boasts remarkable comfort, is said to offer one of the smoothest rides, and has an impressive range of up to 8000 nautical miles.

Top speed is not as important as cruising speed, and in this area the 8000 is also very impressive and perhaps class-leading Mach 0.92. If you get bored on long flights and don’t lie reading or chatting, it also comes with the option of a 55-inch TV.

6: Bombardier Global 8000

The Bombardier Global 8000 (and its sister, the 7500), pictured are ultra long-range business jets developed by the Canadian company Bombardier Aviation. Depending on how you define it, they remain the largest business jets in the world. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is said to have splashed out $66 million on his Global 8000.

On May 18, 2021 Bombardier’s FTV5, callsign “The Masterpiece”, became the first business jet to (officially) break the sound barrier. The tests were conducted as part of the development of the Global 8000, making it the fastest civil aircraft since the French Concorde - which was much faster still at Mach 2+.

5: HFB 320 Hansa Jet

For Cold War chic and leftfield style, your first choice of jet will have to be the HFB 320 Hansa Jet, though you do need to time travel to have one. The story of the lovely Hansa started when Hamburger Flugzeugbau (HFB) of West Germany was inspired by the success of the light Learjet 23 to begin work on a small jet of their own.

The aircraft first flew in 1964. The most unusual feature of the Hansa Jet is the forward-swept wing. This feature had appeared on an earlier aircraft by Hansa’s designer Hans Wocke, the Junkers Ju 287. The Ju 287 was an extremely advanced jet bomber created at the end of World War II.

5: HFB 320 Hansa Jet

The Hansa Jet features ‘tip tanks’, fuel held in aerodynamic pods on the wing-tips. Though tip-tanks have largely fallen out favour in more modern designs (many preferring to use this position for the efficiency-enhancing winglet), the tip-tank adds an additional cool factor.

Though we can’t think of extremely famous people who owned Hansa Jets, that doesn’t really matter. Coolness was never really about efficiency or cost, but idiosyncratic appeal, and on this Hansa scores highly, and indeed significantly higher than it scores for safety!

4: Dassault Falcon 20

Like the Learjet 25, the Falcon 20 drew on experience gained with fighter aircraft, in this case, the Dassault Mystère IV fighter-bomber (the Falcon was initially known as the Dassault-Breguet Mystère 20). The Mystère 20 took its first flight on 4 May 1963, which was even earlier than the Lear Jet 23 (7 October 1963).

Lacking penetration in the potentially lucrative US market, Dassault teamed up with Pan-Am to promote the aircraft. The Falcon 20 proved to be such a smash hit that it was in production until 1988, by then superseded by more advanced Falcon family members.

4: Dassault Falcon 20

The eagle-eyed may recognise this aircraft from the cinema and TV. The Falcon 20 has been featured in many movies, including Wall Street (1987), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Snakes on a Plane (2006), as well as various TV series, including the A-Team.

An inherent weakness of small jets is their green credentials, so it was heartening when, in November 2012, a Falcon 20 became the first civilian jet to fly on 100% biofuel. An impressive total close to 500 aircraft were sold.

3: Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris

For the most stylish, buying off the peg is never an option. For Frank Sinatra, this meant opting for an aircraft few did, namely the Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris. But what was this elegant tiny jet, and why did so few have it?

In 1953 manufacturer Morane-Saulnier created the MS 755 Fleuret, a two-seat jet trainer offered for the French Air Force. The Air Force rejected the Fleuret, so Morane-Saulnier, looking to recover their losses, suggested an improved, four-seat version variant for the military liaison role. This was named the MS760 Paris, but would be known by many as the Paris Jet.

3: Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris

The aircraft was in many ways rather too enjoyable to be confined to a military life. It had delightful handling, an electric-powered retractable canopy that could be opened in flight (making it a flying ‘convertible’) and, importantly, any civilian arriving in the chic machine would be the talk of the airport.

Counting against it was its high cost: $300,000 in 1955 was a great deal of money, plus you had the inconvenience of sourcing jet fuel at smaller airfields. Neither of this put off Sinatra (or the Shah of Iran) who embraced the first aircraft in what is now known as the Very Light Jet class.

2: Learjet 23

When Switzerland first flew its FFA P-16 ground attack fighter in 1955, it strains credibility that anyone who witnessed the flight, could have predicted the eventual outcome would be so peaceful, and so glamourous. For the P-16 design influenced the design of the gorgeous Learjet 23.

The Swiss P-16 was cancelled following a crash, but many of its features would find their way onto Bill Lear’s new jet. Lear was an American inventor and businessman who sensed the potential of a small, fast and efficient jet to serve the needs of executives. The new aircraft, the Learjet 23, first flew in 1963.

2: Learjet series

The stylish 23 was instrumental in ushering in a new era of ‘Biz Jet’ and the term Learjet was for a time synonymous with such high-status items and the glamourous lifestyle they suggested. Many famous people fell in love with the 23 including Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando and Dean Martin. Elvis even used Sinatra’s Learjet to elope to Las Vegas!