“The Learjet was originally a Swiss fighter jet.”
Verdict: Essentially true. The Learjet 23's wing, main landing gear and fuel-tank layout were taken directly from the FFA P-16, a Swiss ground-attack fighter that the Swiss Air Force cancelled in 1958 after two prototypes crashed. Bill Lear bought the design work, formed the Swiss American Aircraft Corporation, added a new fuselage and two engines, then moved everything to Wichita. The first business jet to bear his name is a fighter's wing with an office bolted on.
The P-16 was designed by Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein to operate from short alpine airstrips: a thin, straight, high-aspect-ratio wing with tip tanks, built simply and strongly for high subsonic speed and low landing speed. Switzerland ordered 100, then cancelled the programme after the second prototype ditched in Lake Constance.
Lear, who had made his fortune in car radios and aircraft autopilots, saw the wing as the shortcut he needed. He hired P-16 engineer Hans-Luzius Studer, set up SAAC in St. Gallen in 1960, and designed the 'SAAC-23' around it with a pressurised fuselage and two General Electric CJ610 turbojets. Frustrated with the pace of Swiss manufacturing, he moved the whole project to Wichita, Kansas in 1962 and renamed it Lear Jet Corporation. First flight was 7 October 1963; FAA certification came in July 1964.
The fighter DNA showed. The 23 was fast, had a high stall speed, and demanded precise handling — which contributed to a run of early accidents. Later Learjets softened the wing with cuffs and winglets, but the basic planform survived into the Learjet 75 that ended production in 2022.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · aerospaceweb.org
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