AVIATION
AUGUST 9, 2021
History Of Air Force One
History of Air Force One began when military advisors in the US War Department during World War II were concerned about the risk of using commercial airlines for presidential travel. This sparked the idea of designating specific military aircraft to transport the US president safely and protected.
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States.
The call sign is used to denote US Air Force aircraft modified and used to transport the president for the primary presidential aircraft, although it can be applied to refer to any Air Force aircraft used by the president to travel. In fact, any plane a US president flies aboard as commander in chief automatically becomes “The One” – Air Force One, Navy One or Marine One
In 1953, the “Air Force One” call sign was officially used after President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Lockheed Constellation entered the same airspace and by the same time a commercial airline flight using the same flight number.
And to significantly distinguish the Air Force One plane visually, since 1962 the primary presidential aircraft has carried the distinctive livery design as we know today.
Here is the family tree of Air Force One airplanes from past to present:
C-54 Skymaster
Dubbed the “Sacred Cow”, this modified plane carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in February 1945 and was used for another two years by President Harry S. Truman.
DC-6 Liftmaster
This was the plane that President Harry S. Truman flew with during the period 1947 – 1953 and called the “Independence”. The new plane had bigger power and could fly about 100 miles per hour faster than “Sacred Cow” with a cruising speed of 315 miles an hour.
Lockheed Constellation
President Dwight D. Eisenhower traveled with “Columbine II” and “Columbine III” from 1953 to 1961. He chose that name because in World War II, as supreme allied commander, he had traveled aboard a C-121 by the name Columbine.
Boeing 707
This President John F. Kennedy’s VC-137A was the first aircraft to be popularly known as “Air Force One.”
Air Force One began sporting its iconic blue, silver and white colors, along with the presidential seal in 1962. It was the first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, that commissioned designer Raymond Loewy to design new livery and interiors, as well as the exterior that received a bold blue paint job.
This Boeing 707 is perhaps the most widely known and most historically significant presidential aircraft.
Air Force specifically purchased the aircraft for use as the presidential duties, the plane entered into service and received the tail number 26000. Regarding Kennedy’s assassination, this is the aircraft that carried him to Dallas, Nov. 22, 1963 and returned the body to Washington, D.C.
Also Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office as the 36th president on board the aircraft at Love Field in Dallas.
Another milestone of the aircraft was when President Richard M. Nixon made historic visits aboard 26000 to the People’s Republic of China and flew to the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1972.
When tail number 27000 replaced 26000, it carved its own history when it was used to fly Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter to Cairo, Egypt on October 19, 1981 to represent the United States at the funeral of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
Boeing 747-200B
In 1990 the history of Air Force One received a big boost when the presidential fleet acquired two highly customized, state-of-the-art Boeing 747-200B (VC-25A) aircraft.
This is the current presidential aircraft for US president. The first VC-25A, tail number 28000, flew as “Air Force One” on September 6, 1990, when it transported President George Bush to Kansas, Florida and back to Washington, D.C.
Those new jets can fly nonstop around the globe by accommodating the airborne refueling capability. A feature that was only available on military planes before. They include state of-the-art communications devices and able to withstand the Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) generally generated from a nuclear explosion.
The jets are loaded with first-class security standard, conference rooms and anti-nuclear radiation glass windows. The president has a private suite with a bed, desk and bathroom in the front of the plane. There is a medic room with blood supply for the incumbent president. The food stock could cater around 100 people at a time.
History of Air Force One continues in the 21st century as the USAF has ordered two Boeing 747-8s to serve as the next presidential aircraft with designation VC-25B.
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