Based in Wichita Kansas, the newly-formed Classic Lear Jet Foundation (CLJF) has announced its intentions to restore Learjet 23-003 – the third-ever example of the world-changing business jet ever built and the first delivered to a customer…

Made up of current, retired, and former Lear Jet employees, the group successfully dismantled and transported the aircraft – which was built as N803L in 1964, delivered as N200Y on October 13 that same year and reregistered N2008 in 1969, before taking on its current registration N3BL in 1975 – from its previous home at Bartow Executive Airport in Florida to Wichita, Kansas, the home of Lear Jet, for a full ground-up restoration.

Arriving in Kansas on February 27 following its near 1,500-mile, three-day road trip, Lear Jet 23-003 was soon sat on the former Lear Jet ramp at what was Wichita Municipal Airport (today’s Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport) in the exact location it was photographed on the day it was delivered.

Plans call for 003 to be returned to the skies as a “living flight history program” under the CLJF mission to Restore the first-ever production Lear Jet delivered to a customer, Connect by keeping the story alive of the jet that started an industry by preserving a piece of legendary flight history and Educate by involving students of all ages in the process and the story of how the Lear Jet aircraft was born, and how the foundation's centerpiece, Lear Jet serial number 23-003, is being restored to flying condition.

Often regarded as the first purpose-built business jet in the industry, the CLJF, which has raised the £150,000 needed to purchase the airframe and transport it ‘home’ to Witchita, will now turn its attention to further establish the foundation and begin a more long-term fundraising effort in earnest.