Grumman G-1159 Gulfstream II/III

Collectively the most successful members of the Gulfstream corporate aircraft family, the Gulfstream II and Gulfstream III are Spey powered developments of the original turboprop powered Gulfstream I. The Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop powered Grumman Gulfstream I proved to be quite successful as a large long range corporate transport, while the availability of an faster and more powerful turbojet powered model, the Rolls-Royce Spey meant that a jet powered successor was a logical development. Grumman launched such an aircraft, named the Gulfstream II or G-II, in May 1965. While based on the original Gulfstream I - the G-II shares the same forward fuselage and cross section - there are more differences than similarities. The most obvious difference is the two rear mounted Spey axial flow turbojet engines, others include a new swept wing and tail. A similar size fuselage to the G-I seats 10 in a typical executive configuration. No prototype G-II was built, instead the first to fly was a production standard aircraft, which first flew on October 2 1966. Certification and first production deliveries occurred in October and December 1967 respectively. The improved Gulfstream III followed Gulfstream American's purchase of Grumman's GA lines in 1978. The Gulfstream III first flew on December 2 1979. Changes compared with the G-II include a revised wing of greater span and area with drag reducing winglets, more fuel tankage and thus range, reprofiled nose and a 97cm (3ft 2in) fuselage stretch. Gulfstream IIBs are G-IIs retrofitted with the G-III's wing. Production deliveries of G-IIIs began in late 1980 and continued until 1986 when production ceased in favor of the Gulfstream IV, a somewhat larger model with two new, quieter, more powerful and fuel efficient Rolls-Royce Tay turbofans.

The backbone of this section is from the The International Directory of Civil Aircraft by Gerard Frawley and used with permission. To get your own copy of the book click here.