used with audio equipment of the time (for example "Victrola"). The product was such a success that Galvin changed the name of his entire company to Motorola. Aviation In 1931, Lear bought his first aircraft, a Fleet biplane for $2,500 from a woman in Dearborn, Michigan. The challenges of aerial navigation led Lear into the development of radio direction finders and avionics products. Lear founded Lear Developments, a company specializing in aerospace instruments and electronics. Lear developed radio direction finders, autopilots, and the first fully automatic aircraft landing system. He was awarded the Collier Trophy for this contribution in 1949. Lear also developed and marketed a line of panel-mounted radios for general aviation. His "LearAvian" series of portable radios, which incorporated radio direction finder circuits as well as broadcast band coverage, were especially popular. The company earned about $100 million during WW II for its products. Lear changed the name of Lear Developments to Lear Incorporated and in 1949 opened a manufacturing facility in Santa Monica, California. In 1960, Lear moved to Switzerland and founded the Swiss American Aviation Company (SAAC). The company's goal was to redesign the FFA P-16 jet fighter—a project that had been abandoned after two crashes during test flights—into a small business jet, the SAAC 23. During the brief existence of SAAC, King Michael I of Romania met Lear and agreed to work as a test pilot for the Swiss part of the company. This was during the king's forced exile, which lasted for 50 years until 1997. In 1962, Lear sold his interest in Lear Incorporated to the Siegler Corporation after failing to persuade Lear Incorporated's board to go into the aircraft manufacturing business. The resulting company was thereafter known as Lear Siegler. Lear next moved to Wichita, Kansas, to manufacture the converted SAAC 23 design. In October 1963, Lear Jet started test flights on the Learjet 23, the first mass-produced business jet. The first Lear Jet was sold in 1963; it could carry eight passengers at 560 mph and cost about $650,000 fully equipped, about $400,000 less than its competitors at the time. Although the Lear Jet was quite successful and remains in production, Bill Lear was eventually forced to sell Lear Jet Corporation to the Gates Rubber Company in 1967 due to other financial losses. In the early 1970s, Lear backed the Foxjet ST600 with its first order. The Very Light Jet project