User:Feofer/John Olsen Lear

John Olsen Lear (December 3, 1942 - March 29, 2022) was an influential conspiracy theorist, a record-breaking pilot, and a one-time candidate for State Senate.

Unlike previous UFO conspiracy theorists, Lear promoted a story of alien collusion with secret governmental forces. Lear's tale left a lasting influence on the UFO movement -- one author observed "in the early years [UFO writers] did not, by and large, embrace strong political positions. [Lear and his partner]  were the tip of a spear asserting that the number one thing we had to fear was not little green men, but the government that colluded with them, appropriating their technology against us."

Early life
John Olsen Lear was born on December 3, 1942 to industrialist and future Learjet founder Bill Lear and his wife Moya Marie Olsen Lear. He was named after his maternal grandfather, famous comedian John Olsen. His second and third birthday parties were covered in the "Society" page of an Ohio paper.

Lear graduated from the Institut Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland and attended Wichita State University. Lear claimed that in 1959 he had become the youngest American to ever climb Switzerland's Matterhorn.

Career
In 1965, Lear was employed by the Paul Kelly Flying Service when its founder was killed while piloting a LearJet. Lear testified at the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation into the crash.

Between May 23 and 26, 1966, Lear and a crewmmate flew a record-breaking flight around the world in a LearJet that covered 22,000 miles in 50 hours and 39 minutes.

In August 1966, Lear was featured in the Wichita Press after he piloted a LearJet carrying the rock band The Byrds and the trip inspired them to write a song about the plane. The track, titled "2-4-2 Foxtrot (The Lear Jet Song)", samples Lear's voice as he speaks over the radio.

In 1968, Air Force personnel from Hamilton Air Force Base launched a rescue effort to help Lear land after heavy San Francisco fog interfered with landing. Traffic was cleared from the Golden Gate Bridge in anticipation of a forced landing. After a helicopter pilot established visual contact, Lear was able to successfully land at the base.

Lear claimed to fly "secret missions for the CIA" between 1967 and 1983.

UFO claims
In 1987, Lear released a press statement claiming that the US government has close contacts with extraterrestrial and were secretly "promoting" films like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to influence the public to see extraterrestrials as "space brothers".

In 1989, Lear served as "State Director" for MUFON, hosting the 1989 symposium "The UFO Cover-Up: A Government Conspiracy?" Despite initial objections from MUFON founder Walt Andrus, Lear was able to submit a slate of speakers after he threatened to split the symposium. At that same symposium, Roswell author Bill Moore tearfully confessed to having intentionally spread disinformation to UFO researcher Paul Bennewitz on behalf of purported counter-intelligence agent Richard Doty. Lear's speakers were slated to provide allegedly-independent verification of the Bennewitz claims. One of those speakers, Bill Cooper, would later break with Lear after accusing him of being an intelligence agent.

Lear made multiple appearances on fringe TV shows, including Ancient Aliens, America's Book of Secrets,Brad Meltzer's Decoded, and The Unexplained Files. From 2003 to 2015, Lear was a regular guest on Coast to Coast AM.

Personal life and death
In 1970, Lear married Marilee Higginbotham, the owner of a California fashion modelling agency, at a ceremony in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles.

Lear died on March 29,2022.