William Powell Lear was a creative genius and entrepreneur who ignored those who said it could not be done. During his career, he compiled a most enviable record of accomplishments in electrical, automotive, and aeronautical engineering. In 1922, at the age of 20 and without benefit of a formal education beyond the 8th grade, William Lear founded the Quincy Radio Laboratory, the first of several companies he would establish. Among his early inventions was the first practical automobile radio. Unable to produce it himself, he sold his invention in 1924, later making the Motorola Corporation famous. From 1930 through 1950, William Lear was granted over 100 patents for aircraft radios and communications and navigation equipment, which had worldwide applications in commercial and military aviation. Most notable among these inventions was the first practical radio compass for aircraft. By the end of the decade over half the private aircraft in the United States were using Lear equipment. In 1940 his company introduced the Learmatic Navigator, an ultra-high frequency device enabling pilots to automatically hold a course by tuning in radio broadcasts of any kind, an invention which brought him the prestigious Frank M. Hawks Memorial Award. In the post World War II years, Lear developed a series of miniature autopilots for fighter aircraft, then added an approach coupler to the device, creating fully automatic landings in low visibility conditionsa historic first. This system was deemed the most outstanding aeronautical achievement of the year, and earned Lear the Collier trophy in 1950, presented to him by President Truman. The French Government honored him in 1962 for developing the autopilot for the Caravelle jetliner, which made the first completely automatic blind landing while carrying passengers.
Inducted in 1981.
Portrait Location: Hall of Fame Hallway