Model 1121 Jet Commander and Commodore Jet Book Review

by Michael Benolkin

Review

Aero Research has released this new title covering the Aero Commander business jet series. Unlike previous releases from Aero Research, this title breaks down the history of aircraft from inception through its end of life, not only for the overall series, but drilling down to look at the individual airframes - all 150 of them.

You might recall that Aero Commander produced the Model 500 series twin-engined piston-powered business aircraft made famous by the aerobatic demonstrations by a gentleman wearing a business suit (and sometimes a straw hat) - Bob Hoover. Aero Commander followed the aviation industry by developing their own business jet, the model 1121. If you look at the photos of the aircraft, you can see that it has its roots with the Model 500, but with the additional power of its jet engines, the airframe grew and provided greater comfort and/or capacity. The Jet Commander was powered by the CJ610 engnie, the civilian version of the J85 that powered the A-37B, T-38, and F-5 series.

You may also recall that the Rockwell name was associated with the aircraft as Aero Commander would merge with Rockwell Corporation, but due to anti-trust issues, the new company would have two business aircraft in production which raised concerns with the US government. What was the other aircraft? You might remember that Rockwell had previously assimilated North American Aviation and the Sabreliner was that business jet, as well as its military derivative, the T-39.

if you're a tail spotter, you might have noted that the IAI Westwind looks very similar to the Jet Commander. That's because Rockwell sold the Jet Commander production to IAI, who in turn made additional improvements to the type. That is all covered here. Looking for production and performance specifications? They're in here.

Iinterested in a particular aircraft/tail number? You can look it up in this reference and see the previous tail numbers it might have carried as well as the owners of the aircraft.

In the appendicies, there are cross-references between N-numbers and the production airframe number, a summary of airframe dispositions by airframe number, and even a list of accidents by date with a brief summary of events.

The title is illustrated with 60 photos and a few diagrams, but the star of this show is the level of detail that makes up the contents of this interesting reference.

You can purchase this title in hardcopy or in PDF/CD format as well as any of their photo CDs directly from their website www.aeroresearchcds.com or via email AeroResearch@Charter.net.

My sincere thanks to Aero Research for this review sample!