It's often said that there's no business like show business, and this is certainly the case when it comes to aviation. Private aircraft offer celebrities an exclusive means of getting from place to place, away from the hustle and bustle of commercial flying. Over in the US, Walt Disney acquired a Grumman Gulfstream I for this purpose, and it remains intact today.

Disney's second aircraft

Legendary US film producer had a love of aviation, and acquired his first aircraft in February 1963. According to Reflecting On Walt, the plane in question was a Beechcraft Queen Air Model 80. This twin-engine design had a list price of $135,000, which is equal to around $1.23 million today. It only had eight seats, and thus Disney soon looked to upgrade.

This resulted in him ordering a twin-turboprop Grumman G-159 Gulfstream I within a year. According to PlaneLogger, its registration upon delivery was N732G. However, in 1967, Disney re-registered the aircraft, which had 21 seats, or eight in an executive configuration, as N234MM. Similarly, his previous Queen Air had the tail number N123MM.

The 'MM' suffix in these two registrations, waymarking.com reports, stands for Mickey Mouse, one of Disney's most famous characters. This resulted in the Gulfstream I being nicknamed 'Mickey Mouse One.' But what exactly did Disney use the aircraft for?

Almost three decades of service

According to The Disney Blog, the aircraft played a key role in early aerial surveys of the Florida site that became Walt Disney World. The entrepreneurial filmmaker also used the aircraft to transport employees, known as Imagineers, to the site when work began there.

Disney kept N234MM busy during the aircraft's tenure. Indeed, by 1978, it had clocked up a reported 12,300 flight hours, covering 4.3 million miles (6.92 million km) in the process. The famous Gulfstream I was eventually withdrawn from service in 1992.

Once the aircraft made its final flight, it went on display as part of the Studio Backlot Tour attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World resort near Orlando, Florida. Although it has since been stored, it was recently revealed, as seen in the tweet above, that N234MM will briefly go back on display in Anaheim, California in September.

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What was the Grumman Gulfstream I?

The Grumman G-159 Gulfstream I was the first in a series of corporate aircraft developed under the Gulfstream name. After first flying in August 1958, US planemaker Grumman produced 200 of these business aircraft between 1959 and 1969. It did so after rejecting the idea of developing its five-seat amphibious Grumman Widgeon for business use.

Grumman later began developing business jets, such as the Gulfstream II. The production of this twinjet, of which 256 were produced between 1967 and 1980, was later taken over by Gulfstream Aerospace. As such, the Gulfstream III, IV, and V designs that followed have not featured the Grumman name. Examples of the G-II reportedly remain in service today.

Did you know about Disney's Gulfstream I? Perhaps you've even seen this special aircraft in person yourself? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!