The Cessna Citation is a marketing name used by Cessna for its lines of business jets. Rather than one particular model of aircraft, the name applies to several “families” of turbofan-powered aircraft which have been produced over the years. Within each of the six distinct families, aircraft design improvements, market pressures and re-branding efforts have resulted in a number of variants, so that the Citation lineage has become quite complex.

FanJet 500 :
In October, 1968, Cessna announced plans to build an eight-place business jet that, unlike its competition, would be suitable for operations from shorter airfields, essentially aiming to compete in the light-to-medium twin turboprop market, rather than the existing business jet market. First flight of the prototype aircraft, then called the FanJet 500, took place a little under a year later, on September 15, 1969 in aviation.

Citation I series :
After a longer-than-expected development flight test program, during which the name Citation 500 was tried, and a number of changes to the design, the finished aircraft was debuted with the new name Citation (Model 500) and received its FAA certification in September, 1971. The Cessna Citation 500 aircraft for sale was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-1 turbofan engines. With fan engines, rather than turbojet engines such as powered the contemporary Learjet 25, and a straight, rather than swept wings, the Citation was over 120 knots slower than the Lear 25 (max speed of 350 kts compared with 473 kts for the LJ25), which led to nicknames such as “Slowtation” and “Nearjet”, and raised eyebrows in the aviation media.

In 1976, several product improvements were added to the aircraft in response to market pressures, including a higher max gross weight and thrust reversers, which made shorter landing fields available to customers. With these improvements came the name Citation I. When production on the Citation I finally ended in 1985, 377 airframes had been built. The aircraft’s position in the Citation product line was not filled until much later, with the introduction of the Cessna CitationJet.

Citation II Series:
he Citation II, Model 550, was a direct development from the Citation I. The earlier aircraft’s success in the market led Cessna to believe there was demand for a larger aircraft that utilized the same design philosophy. The result was the Citation II, which had a maximum seating capacity of 10. In addition to more seats, the plane had more powerful JT15D4 engines, faster speeds and longer range. First flight was on January 31, 1977, and the aircraft was certified for two-pilot operation in March, 1978. A total of 603 aircraft were built before the Citation II was replaced by the Bravo in the production line.

The Model 552 T-47A was the designation given by the U.S. Navy to the Citation II. Fifteen aircraft were purchased by the Navy to train its F-14 Tomcat Radar Intercept Officers. The T-47A was modified by incorporating JT15D5 engines, shortened wings, multiple radar consoles and the AN/APQ-159 radar system from the F-14. All but one were destroyed in a hangar fire, and the Navy replaced them with upgraded T-39s[32] Another version of the Model 552 was the OT-47B, five of which were purchased by the Department of Defense for use in drug interdiction reconnaissance operations, based at Maxwell Air Force Base. The OT-47B utilized the F-16′s APG-66(V) fire control radar system and the WF-360TL imaging system.

In October, 1983, Cessna announced that they would be improving the aircraft, and the upgraded Model S550 Citation S/II first flew February 14, 1984. The aircraft utilized an improved version of the engine, JT15D4B, while the rest of the improvements were aerodynamic in nature. The wing was replaced with one using a supercritical airfoil, which had been developed for the Citation III. The S/II was certified, like the II/SP, with a single-pilot exemption. Once certification was in hand, the S/II replaced the II in the product line in late 1984. However, due to market demands, the II was returned to production the following year, and both were produced side-by-side until replaced by the Bravo.

Ciation V :
After stretching the Citation I to make the II, Cessna decided to increase the size of the cabin again, stretching the fuselage by another 20 inches, resulting in the largest member of the straight-wing family, the Model 560 Citation V. The first engineering prototype flew in August, 1987, and certification was granted in December, 1988. The aircraft utilized the T-47A’s JT15D5A engines for extra performance. By the time the aircraft was superseded in 1994, 262 had been built.

Citation Bravo :
By 1994, the Cessna Citation II aircraft and S/II aircraft had been in production for 10 years, and it was time to integrate new technology. Cessna thus announced the development of the Cessna Citation Bravo aircraft. While it was built on the basic S/II airframe, the new aircraft was powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW530A engines. The main landing gear was replaced by the smoother-riding trailing link configuration adopted by other members of the Citation line, and the standard avionics suite was updated to the Honeywell Primus 1000 EFIS glass cockpit. The new aircraft first flew on April 25, 1995, but certification did not come for over a year, finally being granted in August, 1996.