Historic Aircraft Acquired by Noted YouTuber James Webb

The King is dead; he has been since 1977. Elvis Presley’s 1962 Lockheed JetStar, however, lives on—as it were—and may soon be repurposed after a fashion likely to please neither Elvis fans nor adherents of aviation history.

After passing an eerily Biblical forty-years in the Roswell, New Mexico desert, the aircraft—serial-number L-1329, registration N440RM—was purchased at auction by James Webb, creator and host of the Jimmy’s World YouTube channel, for $234,000—about 28-percent of the $840,000 for which the King purchased the machine on 22 December 1976, only eight-months prior to his 16 August 1977 death.

Webb acquired Elvis’s battered and forgotten JetStar at New Mexico’s Roswell International Air Center on 08 January 2023, a date that would have been Elvis’s 88th birthday.

"It was the biggest financial purchase I have ever made outside of a house, and this was, ironically, more expensive than my house. How crazy is that?” remarked Webb, who intends to convert the historic aircraft into an RV in which he plans to tour the U.S.—ostensibly for purpose of raising funds for charities.

Webb explained: "We’re going to take an RV chassis, take the house part of the RV off, put [the aircraft] on that, so this can be the Elvis Experience.”

Upon purchasing N440RM, Webb had the aircraft transported some 1,600-miles from Roswell to a storage facility in Plant City, Florida.

Jimmy's World is an American YouTube channel claiming north of 341,000 subscribers. The channel was founded in 2007 and has an archive of some 193 uploaded videos. As of 12 March 2023, the net worth of the Jimmy’s World channel is approximately $338,853.

The JetStar acquired by Webb was the third aircraft in Elvis’s fleet. Though not as famous as Lisa Marie, Elvis’s Convair 880; or Hound Dog II, the King’s first JetStar—both of which have been relegated to perpetual display at Graceland—N440RM is considered Elvis’s “lost jet,” and the only one of his aircraft in private hands.

In its prime, N440RM featured a red-and-white-striped livery and a nine-place cabin replete with red-velvet upholstery, wood-paneling, and shag carpeting. Aside from stylishly conveying the King about his royal rounds, the aircraft was shared with Elvis’s father, Vernon Presley, which reportedly made the jet particularly special to the King.

Regrettably, N440RM saw little time aloft after its 1977 sale. In short-order, the aircraft was unceremoniously stripped of its engines and valuable components, then summarily committed to the cruel custody of the Nevada desert. Nevertheless, as the only Elvis jet available for sale, interest in N440RM remained, and the venerable JetStar, notwithstanding its pillaging and conspicuous deterioration, was repeatedly offered for sale at auction.

In 2017, N440RM’s hulk sold for $430,000—lower than the multimillion sum it was expected to fetch but a respectable amount nonetheless. The plane was again offered for sale in 2018, with bidding again proving lower-than-expected despite the persistently high value of Elvis’s automobiles and other big-ticket memorabilia.

When finally acquired by Webb in 2023, N440RM was accompanied by a letter written by Elvis’s wife, Priscilla Presley. Subject letter read: This is a very significant piece of history as it was the only jet Elvis bought with his father. Elvis always wished to support his father's entrepreneurial endeavors, especially after losing his mother so early. Elvis loved and respected his father very much and this jet is a piece of him and his father's heart.

FMI: www.elvisthemusic.com