LOOKING BACK Model 695 “Jetprop 980”

The Model 695, marketed as the “Jetprop 980,” was the twenty-sixth one to be placed into production, the first 57 by the General Aviation Division of Rockwell International Corporation at Bethany (Wiley Post Airport), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and the last 27 by Gulfstream American Corporation, Commander Division.

The 84 examples were built between June 1979 and August 1981, serial numbers 95000 through 95063, and 95065 through 95084.

Of these, one was initially certified in 1979; 55 in 1980; and 28 in 1981.

A factory document describes the Model 695 as “Certified November 1, 1979. Same as Model 690C except AiResearch TPE331-10-501K engines were used.”

The Model 695 was indeed certified on November 1, 1979, under Type Certificate 2A4 and has AiResearch TPE331-10-501K engines with the 106-inch diameter Dowty Rotol (c)R.306/3-82-F/7 / VP2926 ‘supercritical’ propellers.

Gross weight is 10,325 pounds and the cabin pressure differential is 5.2 psi giving a 13,000-foot cabin at 33,059 feet and a sea level cabin at 11,595 feet. Total fuel capacity is 430 U.S. gallons (1,628 litres) as standard, with an optional capacity of 482 U.S. gallons (1,825 litres).

None of the Model 695 featured a cosmetic dorsal fin.

On May 22, 1981, serial number 95054, registered in West Germany as D-IBAR and flown by Joachim H. “Jo” Blumschein, established 4 world records. These were: “Speed over a closed circuit of 100 km without payload” of 571.43 km/hr (equating to 62.135 miles at 355.07mph); “Speed over a closed circuit of 500 km without payload” of 571.43 km/hr (equating to 310.685 miles at 355.07 mph); “Speed over a closed circuit of 1,000 km without payload” of 572.08 km/hr (equating to 621.37 miles at 355.474 mph); and “Speed over a closed circuit of 2,000 km without payload” of 569.85 km/hr (equating to 1,242.74 miles at 354.088 mph).

On June 15, 1981 the same aircraft, again flown by Joachim H. “Jo” Blumschein, established six more world records. These were: “Altitude without payload,” reaching 14,419 meters (47,306.43 ft); “Altitude in horizontal flight” of 13,777 meters (45,200 ft); “Time to climb to a height of 3,000 meters” (9,842.5 ft) in 2 minutes 13 seconds; “Time to climb to a height of 6,000 meters” (19,685 ft) in 4 minutes 40 seconds; “Time to climb to a height of 9,000 meters” (29,527.5 ft) in 8 minutes 8.5 seconds; and “Time to climb to a height of 12,000 meters” (39,370 ft), in 14 minutes 0 seconds.

On May 22, 1982 the same aircraft, again flown by Joachim H. “Jo” Blumschein, established four more world records. These were: “Speed over a closed circuit of 100 km without payload” of 571.43 km/hr (equating to 62.135 miles at 355.07mph); “Speed over a closed circuit of 500 km without payload” of 571.43km/hr (equating to 310.685 miles at 355.07 mph); “Speed over a closed circuit of 1,000 km without payload” of 572.08 km/hr (equating to 621.37 miles at 355.474 mph); and “Speed over a closed circuit of 2,000 km without payload” of 569.85 km/hr (equating to 1,242.74 miles at 354.088 mph).

On August 13, 1988, serial number 95039, registered in West Germany as D-IHSI and flown by Egon Evertz, established a world record for “Distance without landing” of 6,171.35 km (equating to 3,834.7 miles), when flown from Toronto, Canada to Dusseldorf, West Germany at 501 km/hr.

Barry Collman’s lifelong interest in airplanes began when he was growing up in a house located underneath the downwind leg to busy Northolt aerodrome, an R.A.F. base near London-Heathrow airport. As a young teenager he discovered airplane “spotting”–hobbyists’ observation and logging of aircraft by make, model, and registration number. The hobby began to grow into a passion as Collman joined a club of like-minded spotters. At one point he purchased a copy of the January 1966 U.S. Civil Aircraft Register, and thumbing through it came upon the Aero Commander. He was hooked. Eventually he acquired every available FAA microfiche file on Commanders, and since 1995 has made annual pilgrimages to Oklahoma City to sift through FAA records. He now has a database with about 100,000 records as well as a collection of negatives, slides, photographs, digital images, magazines, brochures, knick-knacks–and a very understanding wife. This series on Commander production history originally was written for the Twin Commander Flight Group, of which he is an enthusiastic member.

Captions:

Scanned from negative number 803572 in a factory collection, N9767S is serial number 95014 and is seen here at Bethany before delivery, finished in factory paint design “#Standard 695,” Bavarian Cream, Dark Wine, and Bright Poppy. Certificated on June 5, 1980, it was sold to distributor Byerly Commander Sales Inc., of Peoria, Illinois, on September 30, 1980 for the customer 3MD Charter, a partnership in Fallon, Nevada. It was possibly damaged beyond repair on August 2, 1981 at Greater Peoria Regional Airport, as it was eventually cancelled as “Expired” on April 30, 2015.

Scanned from negative number 803819 in a factory collection, CP-1640 is serial number 95049 and is seen here during a pre-delivery flight, finished in factory paint design “#Standard 695,” White, Dark Blue, and Light Blue. It was certificated on December 1, 1980, and sold via Distributor Commander Ltda., of La Paz, Bolivia, to Sabeni Ltda., in La Paz. It returned to the United States in July 1983 as N3982C, was re-registered as N980GR on March 5, 1996, and is currently registered to Dash 10 Enterprises LLC., in Artesia, New Mexico.