This wonderful promo film from 1963 introduced the world to the McDonnell 220 business jet, so named as it emerged at the start of the company’s second 20 years of operation. The jet began life as the Model 119, designed to compete for the US Air Force’s UTX/UCX (utility-trainer experimental/utility-cargo experimental) contract, but when it lost to the Lockheed L-1329 JetStar, it was repurposed as a business jet with space to accommodate 10 passengers in a luxury executive configuration and as many as 26 in a higher-density layout.
McDonnell marketed the 220 to the 750 largest corporations in the USA, but there were no takers, even for the single prototype you see here (N4AZ), which was used by McDonnell Corporation as a VIP transport aircraft for a few years before being donated to the Flight Safety Foundation‘s research facility in Phoenix, Arizona. N4AZ now resides at El Paso International Airport and you can see her HERE.
