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Gulfstream was just another deal to Ted Forstmann--until it nearly went bust. Here's how he seized control, reaped big profits, and launched a hot jet

It is a late fall afternoon in 1996, and a shoeless Theodore J. Forstmann is stretched out in a leather chair aboard his luxurious private jet, kneading his brow with both hands in a futile attempt to dissipate a splitting headache. Forstmann flies a Gulfstream IV, the Rolls Royce of corporate aviation. But this is more than just a mogul's plaything. Forstmann, best known as a Wall Street dealmaker, is chairman of the company that made it: Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. Exhausted by two days of glad-handing at an aircraft convention in Orlando, Forstmann is racing home to New York to talk about Gulfstream on CNN at 6:10 p.m.

For a man who made his name buying and selling companies, Teddy Forstmann has of late given a convincing performance as a corporate manager. Virtually bankrupt in 1993, Gulfstream recently reported record earnings of $47 million for 1996, up 63% over the preceding year. But this isn't the half of Gulfstream's comeback story. Helped by new management and a revival in the market for corporate aircraft, the Savannah-based company has secured its renascent prosperity through the end of the century by amassing a $3 billion backlog of orders. At a time when even giant McDonnell Douglas Corp. found it was too small to go it alone, Gulfstream is thriving as the last independent plane maker in North America not named Boeing.

Most of the company's back orders are for a pricey new superplane, the Gulfstream V (G V). Capable of flying nonstop from New York to Tokyo, the G V is the world's first ''ultra-long-distance'' corporate jet. Four years in development at a cost of $800 million, the G V is just now reaching the marketplace. Gulfstream delivered the first G V to Seagram Co. on Dec. 31 and is cranking out the $35 million jets at the rate of two a month.

Gulfstream's revival is a source of great satisfaction for Forstmann, 57. ''I don't have a talent for running companies, I have a talent for Gulfstream,'' says Forstmann, who, as the dominant partner of Forstmann Little & Co., helped invent the leveraged buyout. ''Running Gulfstream has been the best experience of my business life. By far.''