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Author Topic: Last Commander Made?  (Read 6280 times)

donv

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Last Commander Made?
« on: August 07, 2020, 12:28:35 am »
On Facebook, there was a picture posted of the last 900 made, 15042. I asked if that was the last Commander made, period, since they were making 900s and 1000s at the end, and I didn't get a solid answer.

So what was the LAST Commander ever made?

SKYFLYER

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2020, 07:33:09 am »
Barry Coleman will know
« Last Edit: August 07, 2020, 03:45:13 pm by SKYFLYER »

Bruce Byerly

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2020, 01:15:09 am »
96208 is sitting in the hangar for inspection. I believe it to be the last 1000 though 2 US govt planes have always shown as later models, they don’t exist as far as I know.  11735 is the last 840. It’s VZ registered but I see it quite often.

donv

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2020, 01:19:49 am »
Do you know which one was the last to roll off the line? 96208 or 11735? Or 15042?

Were those airplanes parked in the field as part of the "fire sale?"

Bruce Byerly

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2020, 04:43:14 pm »
I don’t know.  I think some of this 1985’s were built in 1983.  96210 shows purchase of 1/1/1985 but not seen from since afaik.  If we could only find all of the Andy Andrews’ planes.  I hope it’s a hell of a barn find in the desert someday.

donv

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2020, 04:54:00 pm »
Who was Andy Andrews?

Bruce Byerly

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2020, 10:51:52 pm »
Who was Andy Andrews?

Some guy who owned all the planes the CIA or whoever operated. They had a bunch.  Or maybe he was a front. Or both.  Seems like he was out of Memphis. Frankly, I really can’t say because it was all secret so none of us regular folks knew the whole deal and I’ve forgotten much of the punchline.  Now that I think about it, I remember someone telling me a story a few years ago.  I’ll have to ask her again.

JMA

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2020, 03:30:56 pm »
Is there any pics of all the commanders that didn't sell sitting in the field you speak about Don?

donv

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2020, 07:15:07 pm »
Is there any pics of all the commanders that didn't sell sitting in the field you speak about Don?

I'm sure there are, because Commander was running a full page ad in Trade-A-Plane in those days. I'd love to see that ad again!

JMA

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #9 on: August 11, 2020, 03:27:39 pm »
No luck Googling, but we do have BRUCE!  Anything out there buddy?

Barry Collman

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2020, 07:18:58 am »
Who was Andy Andrews?
[/quote
Andy Andrews was the boss of Eagle Air Inc., of Memphis, TN. He was approached by a member of the Londono family to buy him a Turbo Commander. Andy caught the whiff of a small brown rodent (smelt a rat) and contacted the appropriate Government Agency. They said "OK - go ahead, but let us have it first, before it heads South". Under what became "Operation Starwatch", they installed tracking devices behind the instrument panel. The wheels had hardly touched the ground in Colombia before these devices were duly removed. In all, some 50 aircraft became involved circa 1988 & 1990, but not all were Commanders, I presume. I know of about 20 that were Commanders, Registered to Eagle Air, but they may have been the broker in some other sales. Anyway, after $50m had changed hands, no arrests or seizures were made. There was a CBS "60 minutes" (from memory) TV program about this in the early to mid 90's.

SKYFLYER

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2020, 07:57:41 am »
As always... Thank you Barry for sharing. 

Great having a resident historian on the board.

donv

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #12 on: August 16, 2020, 12:35:52 pm »
Thanks, Barry!

Barry Collman

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #13 on: August 17, 2020, 09:36:03 am »
Last Commander made?
Well, that's a good question!
With Gulfstream having announced closure of the line, some airframes were unsold.
The following were the last serial numbers built and I can only work from two dates:
1. When factory paperwork started
2. When the aircraft was Certificated

690C s/n 11735: Paperwork started August 27, 1984; Certificated May 13, 1985
690D s/n 15042: Paperwork started January 30, 1984; Certificated September 27, 1985
695 s/n 95084:  Paperwork started March 3, 1981; Certificated August 24, 1981 (So - not a contender!)
695A s/n 96100: Paperwork started December 16, 1983; Certificated May 7, 1985
695B s/n 96208: Paperwork started June 28, 1985; Certificated February 13, 1986


s/ns 96209 & 96210 had "N" numbers Assigned by the FAA on February 17, 1984 but were never built. They remained on the FAA register until April 25, 2011 until cancelled as "Expired".
The proposed model "1200" had s/ns 98000 thru 98004 Assigned and cancelled on those same dates.
98000 would have been the Manufacturer's production prototype.

donv

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Re: Last Commander Made?
« Reply #14 on: August 17, 2020, 01:15:48 pm »
Thanks, Barry! Looks like 96208 is it.

One wonders what the deal was with 96100... unsold, probably.

Was the 1200 going to be the 695C, or have it's own model designation?