Gallery: The Lear Jet 23-003 Returns Home

This Lear Jet Model 23 was the first production Lear Jet to be delivered to a customer. The aircraft was delivered Oct. 13, 1964, to Chemical and Industrial Corp. of Cincinnati, Ohio. The Classic Lear Jet Foundation is acquiring the aircraft with plans to restore it to flying condition. The aircraft has been sitting outside at an airport in Bartow, Florida. 

This Lear Jet Model 23 was the first production Lear Jet to be delivered to a customer. The aircraft was delivered Oct. 13, 1964, to the Chemical and Industrial Corp., based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Classic Lear Jet Foundation is acquiring the aircraft with plans to restore it to flying condition. The aircraft has been sitting outside at an airport in Bartow, Florida. Members of the foundation, volunteers, former Learjet employees and others attended a welcome home event for the aircraft on Feb. 28. 

The Lear 23-003, originally had FAA tail number N200Y.  Here it sits in front of the Lear hangar in west Wichita ready for delivery. 

Florida-based Jetcare, an air medical transport provider, donated a crew and equipment to dismantle the aircraft, removing its wings, tip tanks and stabilizers, to prepare the aircraft for loading on trailers for the trip to Wichita. It took more than two days to complete the work. “It’s like a baby coming home,” says Richard Kovich, retired Bombardier Learjet section chief and member of the Classic Lear Jet Foundation. 

The aircraft has been sitting outside for the past 12 years and has sustained some hurricane damage. Its condition and the extent of its corrosion have yet to be determined.  

The Learjet 23 was the first small jet aircraft to enter mass production and the first to be developed and financed by a single individual, Bill Lear. “There was a moment in time when that aircraft was the only business jet flying in the United States,” says Joel Weber, Classic Lear Jet Foundation board member. 

Brenda Lear, wife of the late William Lear Jr., and daughter-in-law of Lear founder Bill Lear, paid a visit to the Lear 23 before its trip to Wichita. She autographed its fuselage.