Guppy,
You bring up a good point...seems that many pilots seem to want to dramatize stories that they heard...just based on what I know about how planes are tested, seems very illogical that 5 kts over Vmo a Lear would have problems..
In fact...when testing the Premier one, F5 in tow...the number they tried to hit to certifiy for Vmo was 50 kts over...then do some kindvof of a pullup maneuver, with a specified number of Gs. So your right that Vmo testing has to do with recovery back to Vmo, most people don't know that.
What I have wondered in old aircraft, that once certified 50 kts over Vmo, ten thousand hours later, would come apart or do something funny at a lower speed. Again, sage advice, don't exceed Vmo.
I have always felt that the numbers aside, the pilots should know the numbers that aren't in the book, that the plane could fly to should emergency situation dicate. I wouldn't recommend it but if you were flying along and someone decided to start dogfighting you, going 50kts past Vmo to get down might not seem such a stretch at that point...
Which brings up a thought..
Does anyboy remember that movie where a plane crashed in the jungle, canibals all around, and the pilot said he couldn't take everyone, because of the reduced thrust(broken plane), and runway requirements. So he came up with the max passenger load...(those were pilots back them) It was a little bit like flight of the Pheonix, except they were in the jungle...it was like a single engine takeoff on a twin or something...so they left the bad guy to get eaten...lol