Lockheed Jetstar for sale

[Tantalum]

did I mention it was owned (at least in part) by Elvis?

https://connect.invaluable.com/gwsa...Personally-Owned-Private-1962-Loc_C3F431389F/



I didn't have the heart to post this in the "Rotting Planes. Sad" thread

 

[Sac Arrow]

I'll pass, but thanks for the offer.

 

[GlennAB1]

A red velvet Elvis seat would be a pretty cool novelty but at $20,000 starting bid, already too much$

 

[Zeldman]

Wow... could be worth 2,000,000 to 3,500,000..!!!!!

Well, the bidding is already above my top offer.......

Next time I go to Roswell I will have to look for this plane.

Where would a person look to find engines for this..??

 

[Tantalum]

Where would a person look to find engines for this..??

I thought about that too... but if you had oodles of money you could probably fly it as an experimental and put some small Pratt's on there, JT15s or something
^that would be shear novelty though. Imagine the irony of flying a four engine light jet when the market seems to be moving towards single engine

 

[Acrodustertoo]

I winder how much cocaine is still left in the carpet?

 

[Tantalum]

A red velvet Elvis seat would be a pretty cool novelty

I had a "quirky" friend in college who had some Pan Am first class seats in his room.. bought them from somewhere and just had a row of three chairs sitting there. I must admit it was kind of cool...

 

[asicer]

A red velvet Elvis seat would be a pretty cool novelty but at $20,000 starting bid, already too much$

If The King actually sat in it then that seat alone could be worth $20k. But you'd better not hang on to it for long because the number of Elvis fans dying of old age is starting to accelerate.

 

[GlennAB1]

I had a "quirky" friend in college who had some Pan Am first class seats in his room.. bought them from somewhere and just had a row of three chairs sitting there. I must admit it was kind of cool...

We had some very nice first class seats that would be cool in a theater room.

 

[Anthony]

Hmmmm, maybe that was the same one they used in "Goldfinger".

 

[Velocity173]

Good deal. Low operating costs. Parts easy to come by.

 

[Kritchlow]

I think I see a TOLD card on the throttle quadrant..??
If that was from an Elvis flight even the card could be worth money!

 

[Tantalum]

Good deal. Low operating costs. Parts easy to come by.

Yeah and with four engines you don't need a chute

 

[wsuffa]

I had a "quirky" friend in college who had some Pan Am first class seats in his room.. bought them from somewhere and just had a row of three chairs sitting there. I must admit it was kind of cool...

The airlines sometimes sell their old/surplus seats. A friend of mine has a couple of Delta international business class seats that he picked up at auction. Just have to know where to look....

 

[GlennAB1]

If The King actually sat in it then that seat alone could be worth $20k. But you'd better not hang on to it for long because the number of Elvis fans dying of old age is starting to accelerate.

There will probably always be Elvis fans.

 

[GlennAB1]

The airlines sometimes sell their old/surplus seats. A friend of mine has a couple of Delta international business class seats that he picked up at auction. Just have to know where to look....

You would not believe how many seats we cut up and tossed in recycling, a whole warehouse full.

 

[wsuffa]

You would not believe how many seats we cut up and tossed in recycling, a whole warehouse full.

I would believe.

A certain company that made transceivers about 50 miles from where I went to college used to dump the surplus/unsold/returns/off-lease/etc into a landfill in back. There's probably still about 50 tons of metal in the ground back there.

 

[champ driver]

I thought about that too... but if you had oodles of money you could probably fly it as an experimental and put some small Pratt's on there, JT15s or something
^that would be shear novelty though. Imagine the irony of flying a four engine light jet when the market seems to be moving towards single engine

JT15's probably would barely get that thing off the ground, they originally had JT12-8's with 3300lbs of thrust, the 731 conversion have 3700lbs of thrust each.

 

[Zeldman]

If The King actually sat in it then that seat alone could be worth $20k. But you'd better not hang on to it for long because the number of Elvis fans dying of old age is starting to accelerate.

Or if the king ever farted in those seats.....

 

[Kritchlow]

Or if the king ever farted in those seats.....

But the question is do they have the documentation of said event..??

 

[Sac Arrow]

Good deal. Low operating costs. Parts easy to come by.

Although the tow costs to operate it at its current glider status may be prohibitive.

 

[Ted]

TFE731s are pretty easy to come by, so I doubt that would be too big of a deal. Operating one is hard, though. I'm not even sure where you'd get a type rating or recurrent training, and I'm guessing virtually all parts are from the scrap yard. There's one guy in Houston who owns two of them. N700RM and N710RM for those curious. Airframe parts I think would be hard.

There's also one that got retired at the TWA museum at my airport (N77C). No idea what the history is, but I'm guessing it was owned by TWA at some point since it got sold or given to the TWA museum.

 

[Tantalum]

JT15's probably would barely get that thing off the ground, they originally had JT12-8's with 3300lbs of thrust, the 731 conversion have 3700lbs of thrust each.

Wow, had no idea that plane needed so much oomph

 

[Kritchlow]

Wow, had no idea that plane needed so much oomph

I was always told (no idea if fact or fiction) the only reason the airplane needed four engines is because it was initially slated to be a presidential airplane. It has been rumored (myth?) that's why they just "stuck on" two more engines.

 

[Ted]

Wow, had no idea that plane needed so much oomph

It's not a small plane. Max gross is around 45k. So 14,800 lbs thrust total, or roughly 3 lbs of weight per lb of thrust.

By comparison, a G-II is about 65k max gross with a pair of 11k engines. Power to weight ratio is about the same.

 

[Ted]

I was always told (no idea if fact or fiction) the only reason the airplane needed four engines is because it was initially slated to be a presidential airplane. It has been rumored (myth?) that's why they just "stuck on" two more engines.

There actually was a JetStar used for Presidential transport (for LBJ specifically).

 

[Kritchlow]

There actually was a JetStar used for Presidential transport (for LBJ specifically).

Great pic...

 

[wsuffa]

There actually was a JetStar used for Presidential transport (for LBJ specifically).

Yeah, because you couldn't land a 707 at the LBJ ranch in Texas, but you could land a VC-130 there.

 

[Ted]

Yeah, because you couldn't land a 707 at the LBJ ranch in Texas, but you could land a VC-130 there.

Correct. As I recall the story, he flew the 707 down to some big airport, and then the JetStar/VC-130 to his ranch.

In those days, I could see 4 engines being a presidential requirement for the plane. They didn't have the same reliability as today.

 

[JOhnH]

For $20k, I wonder if I could park it out back and use it for a guest room, or an office. Or a 1st class man-cave.

 

[MauleSkinner]

It needed four engines to push those big fuel pods on the wings through the air...needed the big fuel pods to feed the four engines.

 

[TCABM]

Correct. As I recall the story, he flew the 707 down to some big airport, and then the JetStar/VC-130 to his ranch.
.

Bergstrom AFB was the transfer. The main gate entrance was renamed to Presidential Blvd at some point.

I wasn't around for LBJ and don't remember the street names as a kid, but I seem to recall Presidential Blvd wasn't the main entrance. However, the two entrances weren't too far apart off the same road.

It might have been that what turned into Presidential Blvd started out as a hole in the fence. That would have been going in/out past the old TAC NCO Academy of the West, I think. Now I believe it's the cargo entrance to ABIA, but may be wrong.

The main gate, which is now the ABIA entrance ran past the old Consolidated Base Personnel Office (CBPO or, at BAFB, known as "the donut" which is now a hotel, Hilton, I think.

The current ABIA terminal is about where the old commissary used to be. The base housing where my older brother and sister grew up in was sold off for $1 a house, I think, with the stipulation that the house had to be moved off the property pretty quickly.

My dad retired out of BAFB in '73 and I was born that same year. Grew up going to the base until it closed in the 90s. At the time, I was bitter about it, but the more I learned about the Austin's mindset at the time, it makes sense for what happened and was probably best in the long run.

I'll defer here to folks about 10 years older than me to fill in the gaps correct the info.

 

[mscard88]

Air Force had a fleet of 'em, C-140s. 4-5 were assigned to my old command, AF Communications Command, and used as Flight Check planes mostly.

 

[mscard88]

Or if the king ever farted in those seats.....

And worse things occurred in and on airline seats. That includes cockpit seats too . You wouldn't believe....

 

[wsuffa]

Correct. As I recall the story, he flew the 707 down to some big airport, and then the JetStar/VC-130 to his ranch.

In those days, I could see 4 engines being a presidential requirement for the plane. They didn't have the same reliability as today.

Yeah, Bergstrom as noted above.

It would depend on performance for the short hop.... the Sabreliner/CT-39 may not have been in the USAF fleet at that point. I think the Sabreliner was a better plane, but the JetStar had more seating capacity.

LBJ ranch (0TE7) is a 6300' strip. Pvt use/PPR (US NPS). Don't recall whether it ever had navaids, but I'd be willing to bet that it had some kind of navaid when LBJ was in office.

 

[mscard88]

.... the Sabreliner/CT-39 may not have been in the USAF fleet at that point. I think the Sabreliner was a better plane, but the JetStar had more seating capacity.

It was. My squadron CO flew them and told me a fellow pilot landed "firm" with LBJ on board and was promptly dismissed. Don't remember if he was a Sen or Vp at the time.

 

[Tantalum]

So it sold for a whopping $430K

They're being very discreet about who bought it and where it will be, what will happen to it, etc. however the dubious claim was again made that the jet could earn "millions" once restored

I am not sure how many hard core Elvis fans are left out there, and I think you'd have a hard time selling ticket for more than $30 to see this plane. So assuming $30/ticket that means roughly 33,000 visitors to break $1M... or about 100 per day.

We'll see. Maybe if it is kept in the middle of a Las Vegas casino you could charge more than that and see the visitor count in the hundreds per day.. but I'm not sure how much of a money maker this thing can really be

 

[mscard88]

I seem to recall Elvis owning a DC9 too. Saw it at MEM one day flying in, think it was painted all black. Could've been Hefner's I guess, but I don't recall the Playboy bunny being on the tail.

Bunny AND tail, can I say that here?

 

[pmanton]

This Elvis guy----he hasn't recorded a new song in years

 

[Acrodustertoo]

I seem to recall Elvis owning a DC9 too. Saw it at MEM one day flying in, think it was painted all black. Could've been Hefner's I guess, but I don't recall the Playboy bunny being on the tail.

Bunny AND tail, can I say that here?

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