Bill Lear's Steam Obsession

“I try not to be confused by the fact that something will work,” Bill Lear reflected. “Can it work better? Be made cheaper? Serviced easier? Last longer? I have to think ahead!"

“To Karl Ludvigsen — a writer’s writer who understands engineering too — thank God! With my very kindest regards, Bill Lear 8/16/71.”

That’s the treasured inscription inside my copy of Victor Boesen’s lively biography of William Powell Lear. Its title was “They Said It Couldn’t Be Done”, which summed up as well as anyone could the story of Lear’s life. T…