My dad and I flew down to Memphis on a chartered DC-3 to attend the 1978 Liberty Bowl game between Missouri and LSU. Our plane parked next to a much larger airplane that I recognized the minute we stepped onto the tarmac: it was the "Lisa Marie!" I had the opportunity to see her again at Graceland in 2001 but will never forget our first meeting!
I wonder who owned it then. Vernon or was it sold yet? And who purchased it? Was basically a huge private jet. Nobody would have removed interior for cargo plane.
As a mechanic, I worked on this aircraft quite a bit when it was with Delta Airlines. It was parked at Ft. Lauderdale airport for a long time before it was ferried to Memphis.
I visited Graceland a number of years ago but wasn’t able to see the Lisa Maree because I’m wheelchair bound and the aircraft is not accessible. It was great to finally get a peak inside. Thank you 🇦🇺
After, Elvis past away, my Father, William Hunt, became the pilot for the Lisa Marie and flew many celebrities including Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers, ACDC and many more on this awesome jet. My Father is 94 years old and a WWII Vet. He resides with me in Oklahoma.
I went to Graceland in the 90's and was amazed not only with the mansion but with this plane . It was so beautiful on the inside and also got to see the small plane as well.
Thank you for this wonderful tour! I don't fly and will never be able to make the trip to Memphis to see it due to health issues! Elvis kept it busy for sure.😊 Very happy it's where it belongs.
I was lucky to go to Graceland and get to see this plane it was very nice and well maintained as was the house and grounds around it , if you have not been there it is well worth the trip
Thank you for sharing these comments about the aircraft guys, I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to actually view this plane up close and personal. It’s a pity that it has never flown again as it would be a great way to view Memphis from the air. Warmest regards from New Zealand.
Those Convair jets were the fastest ever subsonic airliners. They often couldn't fly their normal cruise because they had to conform with traffic flows. They also burned fuel at a very high rate and when oil prices climbed, the airlines could no longer economically operate them.
Ron Strauss Elvis Lisa Marie pilot said in interview with Spa Guy he was offered to fly the plane back from Ft Lauderdale to Memphis . He went to see the aircraft and turned down the offer , in his opinion , due to condition of plane as unsafe to operate. Yet some pilot flew it on its final journey to Memphis .
Thanks for this. In 1990 I drove to Memphis, went down EP Boulevard, missing the main gate, but seeing the big bird from the street! I absolutely loved this thing and even sat on the King's bed--this was before all the plastic covers. Seeing this makes you realize how short life really is...
jim petrie Hi, in May 1990 I did exactly the same thing, from the UK...missed the gates completely, and had to do a U turn to get back...all those years ago, this video brings back a lot of memories for me...cheers Mal...
Wil Andersen realy you sat on his kingsize bed in that plane back then without all chairs and bed not covered with plastic like in video? Wow cool, i wish Priscilla would us go inside his bath/bedroom too for talking pictures and feel him
@@jimcameron1234 I did... It felt like going in a real, flyable aircraft... The plastic really depersonalizes it, and... Nobody else aboard that day except me and my wife... Really cool... It sounded like the APUs were running, but that may have been A/C being pumped in... Love that plane!!!
This was one BIG plane. My office was on 62nd Street, across from Executive Airport, were it was kept in Fort Lauderdale. My office door was all glass and looked onto the airport runway. You could feel and hear the plane before you saw it, as made the ground, doors and window shake. At the end of the runway was Levitz warehouse, which was 2 or 3 stories high. The plane took the length of the runway to get lift and every time I heard it coming, I expected to see it land right on Levitz. It barely cleared the top of the Levitz building. My next door neighbor did maintenance on the plane while it was in Fort Lauderdale and my Father would go out to the plane with him at times. My Father could not stop talking about the golden fixtures in the bathroom. Elvis also had a smaller full jet, as the bigger one was a turbojet. I do not remember the smaller on ever being at Executive Airport.
@@michaelharned8741 cool I've always wondered how many celebrities used it. Was a huge plane. Could have easily been turned into a cargo plane. Guess It was too special to undo all that beautiful custom work. And wondered if the lisa marie was removed and repainted when towed to Graceland?
I've toured it along with Graceland back in 2003, very nice well worth it to know that Elvis was right there sleeping in that bed, what a way to travel! He was ahead of his time whereas now there are apartments they call them and/or sleeper berths on the larger planes. What would he think of the world today?
While flying my PA-140 around the US...stopped in OKC to refuel. LOTS and LOTS of people around a normally EMPTY FBO office. I walked in and tried to get fuel. I turn around...and there's ELVIS. "Ah...so you're what all this is about", I recall saying. He asked what I was flying. I walked to the door and pointed at N9268K. He pointed at his Convair 880 with Lisa Marie across the nose. I took a picture of his...don't think he reciprocated.
There was one derelict, off in the weeds at Port Au Prince, Haiti some years ago, and may still be there. It had flown as a converted freighter for Seagreen Air Transport in Miami into the mid-1980s where my brother and I worked on it in the old "corrosion corner."
I too flew Northeast's 880's, as well as Delta's. My father always ensured we had the row of seats which faced one another with a table between us. Warm memories of a time long past. Fr B+
I remember seeing this airplane in Miami at a repair station called "Batch Air" in the late 70's, for maintenance. They were the only ones left equipped to work on these 880's/990's.
@@elvis-jj1sc May be off a bit on the timeframe, but TCB was in Miami, at Batch Air for something in the 1970s. Everyone made a really big deal about it.
I was astounded to learn that Vernon had sold the Lisa Marie. What was he thinking. He couldn't have needed the money and it is truly an historical item. It flew Elvis wherever he wanted to go, as well as Priscilla and Lisa Marie. I glad to hear the estate has repurchased it.
@Eye. stupid Benny Spy Sadly, in 2005, Lisa sold 85% of her share of her father's estate, she only owns 15% of it now. She went through all the money she got for for her dad's estate.
Vernon did need the money. Elvis was technically in debt when he died. Elvis also gave Vernon as Executor of his Will the right to sell all of Elvis' property so we're lucky Vernon had the good sense not to sell Graceland.
We never stood in Vernons shoes, so we cannot judge. And Also Lisa, is she broke, or just rumors ? It doesn't matter, they did a great job after all with Graceland for us. Greetings From the Netherlands ❤️🙏
I touched it were it says lisa marie on right side in fort Lauderdale executive air port drove in after hours after going to my dads grave 10 mins away I had just won my first bowling title drunk of course! seen the to men who meant the most to me dad and elvis! they both died in 1977 I was 13! then watched the lisa marie go home take off from airport to Memphis! tcb elvis! I was 21 when all this happened I heard from a friend k mart owned it after his passing? love to no if that's true just wanted to share my story! tyty vmuch!
FYI- lowarail......But the crown goes to Aerospatiale Concorde, she remains today the only supersonic passenger airliner Mach2.02 /about 1155 knots /1334 mph that is the fastest. A 3:45 minutes flight JFK/CDG or JFK/LHR each led of a roundtrip. In the return we flew against time. We left CDG at 11:45am and landed in JFK at 9:15am.
The TCB logo was inspired by a song he heard by a Canadian band during a drive. Takin' Care of Business was a big hit by Bachman Turner Overdrive. The band members a few years later got meet Elvis, and he presented each of them with a TCB necklace. Unfortunately, the song writer and lead guitar Randy Bachman wasn't with them, which I'm sure he regretted. They say that Elvis recorded a cover of the song which is yet to be released.
It saddens me to know Elvis has a plane but after buying it never made it abroad. It would've brightened him up to see the rest of the world, I'm sure. And why would anyone half decent give this video a thumb down??
The plane actually did make it abroad. There is photos of it Switzerland and there are log records of it in France. . Unfortunately this was after Elvis passed away...thanks to the Colonel, Elvis never toured abroad.
@@AlwaysElvis It's been said that Elvis wouldn't go anywhere without his guns and his 'drugs' so that's why he couldn't go overseas supposedly. I"m sure this Colonel would be all for it as it would bring more money to him
@@nite4ange the reason Elvis did not travel overseas was because the Colonel was an illegal immigrant and he feared if he left the U.S he would not get back in the country. He was uncomfortable with Elvis performing overseas without him overseeing things. The points you made have nothing to do with Elvis not going abroad to perform.
Today still among the fastest civilian aircraft ever, only giving way to supersonic jets like concord ( mucho faster) 660 designation was the speed 660 miles per hour. Man had a bad ass jet.
His first plane a lockheed jetstar recently sold in disrepair from Mojave plane graveyard. His 2nd Lockheed called "Hound Dog II" is on display with the Lisa Marie. :)
Of the 9 left in the world this is the most well kept convair. As to making it airworthy I guess would only rely on access to parts which may be difficult.
I go down to Graceland and no it will never be in the air again.. Graceland really needs to put it under a dome unfortunately the weather is getting to it
I told you in real life, I don't actually talk to anyone this time.... If I had a phone with my phone numbers in it, I'd call one wife with big hair or the other and die at home! God
In real life, they told me I was hilucinating and to stay out of it.... I said fine if no one will answer the fucking God damned phone at one house than I want to call the other one! I am someone too! God
