Thanks Tony. Have already tried that. Siai Marchetti themselves do not respond to these types of enquiries sadly.

N501CC has been preserved by the Smithsonian. I didn’t know that wieesso, even though it’s a very much later Citation 1/SP. That’s great. They also have the earliest surviving Lear 23. Other iconic business jets must be the Gulfstream G11, Jetstar, HS125 (of course) and arguably the Falcon 20 (or Mystere 20).

I wonder what sn, the oldest flying HS125 is.

I’ve asked Cessna about the FanJet 500 prototype but no one there seems to know much about it.

I see from the Flight Global archives, the writer, Hugh Field, said that N502CC is ‘number one off the line’. He also said there were two aircraft giving demonstrations at NBAA that year. One of them had been delivered to United Aircraft of Canada for JT15D testing. He flew in N502CC.

N502CC then must be 0001 and United Aircraft’s example, 0002; ‘ZS-ONE’. 0001 must have been used by Cessna until it was delivered in 1972, which explains why 0002 was delivered first in 1971.

Did Cessna only fly one prototype Fanjet 500? I would be amazed if Cessna only had one prototype.

Thanks David

Wonder what else is in that bone yard.

So we have established the origins and fates of 699 and 701. That leaves 700 (Can’t open XL). Was 700 perhaps a static test frame. Of course 701 bears little resemblance to its FanJet 500 roots as it has been consistently developed to almost production standard (1/SP).