History fans of Playboy will tell you that the Big Bunny was purchased largely thanks to the efforts of Hugh Hefner's former girlfriend Barbie Benton (Klein). The tiny California brunette had ideas of transforming her stay-at-home main squeeze into a globe-hopping bon vivant and gee- wouldn't a private jet be just neat? Naturally no obstacle was too great for Hefner in the name of love- although the magazine founder's abilities at erotic journalism vastly exceeded his knowledge of science and aerodynamics- and the DC-9-30 was delivered after a difficult and protracted outfitting in 1970.
By all accounts Barbie's efforts at boyfriend modification were only partially successful. In the six-year span from 1970 to 1976 that Playboy owned the aircraft, it made but 191 flights. Nearly all were between the Chicago headquarters of the magazine and Hefner's newly discovered digs on Charring Cross Rd. in the Holmby Hills. As for the Big Bunny, it spent many long days on the tarmac in front of Butler Aviation in O' Hare and at AirResearch on Imperial at
LAX, waiting for its owner to fly to those exotic destinations Barbie fantasized about.
The Big Bunny made a couple of transatlantic flights during its service life with Playboy, one to fly the owner to the opening of the London club and casino, and another much-hyped trip to Europe and Africa where Hefner did his best to look the part of a happy and cosmopolitan millionaire tourist on holiday. But after some weeks of hopping from Hilton to Hilton, Hefner concluded in the end, like Dorothy, that there was no place like home.
Reviewing those on-board publicity photos and videos that were taken by the Playboy photographers, one has to admire their amazing talent for creating illusion. The entire scene is almost like
the greatest party that never was .
