Old LearJet

https://www.mecum.com/lots/1155725/1965-lear-jet-23/?utm_source=MarketingCloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LN25+-+V268+-+20251030_134521

I don't usually lust after jets, esp old privates, BUT, this one is THE ONE. And the provenance can't be ignored....flew Brigitte Bardot and Gunter Sachs to their wedding in Las Vegas on July 14, 1966.
That must have been right after they snatched BB off her Riva Ariston in Monte Carlo harbor....

 

Still one of the best looking airplanes ever made!

It's not the only one, as there is another 23 which is being restored right now... and I think there is even another one (Sinatra's airplane) that might also be restored at some point.

Unfortunately, I can't fit in a 23 cockpit. If you look at the circuit breaker panels and how they extend out, there just isn't enough room for my legs and the yokes. A 24, where they put the circuit breaker panels at an angle, is tight but works for me (and I have some time in 24s)... a 35 is plush, in comparison.

23 has lots of weird systems quirks, most of which were corrected in the 24. In fact, a decent number of 23s were converted at various points to the 24 spec. This one, presumably, was not.

 

Sinatra's 23 was serial number 31, this one above is #36.

From GE's website:

In 1964, Sinatra became the proud owner of one of the early Learjets – serial No. 31. Equipped with two GE CJ610-4 engines, the little Lear 23 was the top performing private jet on the market at the time. It had a cruising speed of 518 mph and could allegedly outclimb an F-86.

Sinatra and a bevy of A-list celebrities took full advantage of the aircraft. Between 1965 and 1967, Christina II, named after Sinatra’s daughter, logged more than 1,500 hours. The logbook:

• Marlon Brando and Sammy Davis Jr. flew in it to Mississippi to join Martin Luther King Jr. in a civil rights march

• Sinatra and actress Mia Farrow flew in it on their first date, as well as a year later on their honeymoon in France

• The Rat Pack used it to make routine stops between Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Sinatra’s home in Palm Springs

• Elvis used the Lear in May of 1967 to elope to Las Vegas with Priscilla

I think Sinatra's 23 is now at the Palm Springs Air Museum.

https://palmspringsairmuseum.org/elvis-and-the-learjet-part-one/

 

SN 3 (the first production 23) is being restored at Bombardier, in the building where it was delivered.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2023-09-05/bringing-lear-003-back-flight?utm_campaign=AIN%20Alerts&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9TgM2WAo9BZz-a_EL3DzsOml_cO8pgOIQBl3bvtbOFeu-L8cnkBg-hd5PvAnMrzc96FsFjYMLLtJJbaU7IXy1sQCEzmA&_hsmi=384824351&utm_content=384824351&utm_source=hs_email

 

Not spacious, but 'cozy'......however, xx-hours later.....
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