Art Nalls is a retired pilot and Lt. Col with the United States Marine Corps, he’s also the proud owner of a Harrier Jump Jet, one of the most eye-catching military aircraft ever built. During his time in the Marines, Art Nalls had the good fortune of flying all sorts of the planes (“you name it I flew it” — Art), including the Harrier Jump Jet. After his time in the Marines Art went on to find immense success in the real estate market (pre bubble), and was fortunate enough to revisit his true passion in life: flying.
After attending an air show and rediscovering his passion for flight, Art purchased a Russian Yak 3 (Yakovlev Yak-3), only to soon realize that the enormous Soviet Star on the plane wasn’t exactly attracting the eyeballs at airshows. What the people wanted to see were our nation’s greatest planes. He noticed that the biggest star at any airshow was the Harrier Jump Jet, so beginning in 2010 Art Nalls began his quest to own one himself. Everything finally came together after discussing the possibility of owning one with the FAA (and receiving approval), and then finding a British Harrier Jump Jet for sale after Great Britain took them out of commission.
Figures on what the Harrier Jump Jet cost aren’t mentioned in the video above, but as of last Summer you could pick one up for $1.5 million. Not a tiny price tag, but like I said before: Art made a killing on real estate.
This is what retired life looks like when you were once incredibly successful:
Of all places this video came from the ‘AARP’ YouTube channel. If you’re not familiar with the acronym AARP it stands for ‘American Association of Retired Persons’. So it’s pretty damn remarkable that an organization such as the AARP could track down and produce a story so awesome that it transcends generational boundaries. You’d think that all of their content would be geared towards the geriatric folk, but that’s not the case with this video.
Art Nalls: Retired Lt. Col in the United States Marine Corps, American Hero, Badass.