Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I will join the collection at the Palm Spring Air Museum in California in October 2022.
The plane, which is on a long-term loan to the museum, will be part of a new exhibit that opens on Dec. 5, 2022, Walt Disney’s birthday, according to museum officials.
The new exhibit will highlight the history of the plane — known affectionately as “The Mouse” — and showcase its significance to The Walt Disney Company’s history and its relevance to the Palm Springs Area, museum officials said.
In 1963, Walt acquired the Gulfstream. He and his wife, Lillian, helped design the interior of the plane, which seated up to 15 passengers and included a galley kitchen, two restrooms, two couches, a desk, and nods to the mouse who started it all, including matchbooks and stationery adorned with a silhouette of Mickey Mouse. Mickey’s initials were eventually included in the tail number of the plane, too, as N234MM, in 1967.
Throughout its 28 years of service to The Walt Disney Company, the plane flew 20,000 hours and transported an estimated 83,000 passengers before it was grounded.
The plane had been part of the Studio Backlot Tour at Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios), until 2014.
Starting Oct. 15, 2022, the newly repainted plane with updated wing edges and windows will be on view at the museum, along with rarely exhibited items from the aircraft’s interior, including a customized instrument panel originally located near Walt’s favorite onboard seat that allowed him to monitor flight conditions; a telephone handset that gave Walt a direct line of communication to the pilot in the cockpit; and a flight bag featuring an image of Mickey Mouse sitting on the tail of the iconic plane.
The Palm Springs Air Museum contains more than 75 vintage airframes from the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, across the spectrum of military aviation, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the F-117 Stealth Fighter, as well as civilian aircraft, such as Clay Lacy’s Lear 24. The planes are housed inside 91,000 square feet of open hangars and on the tarmac at the museum’s 10-acre facility at Palm Springs International Airport (KPSP).