Air Force One

Categories: Presidential aircraft | Special-purpose aircraft | Notable aircraft | Executive Office of the U.S. President

For other uses, see Air Force One (disambiguation).

Air Force One is the air traffic control call sign of any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. Since 1990, the presidential fleet has consisted of two specifically configured, highly customized Boeing 747-200B series aircraft—tail numbers 28000 and 29000—with Air Force designation VC-25A. While these planes are only referred to as "Air Force One" while the president is on board, the term is commonly used to describe either of two aircraft normally used and maintained by the U.S. Air Force solely for the president.

The VC-25A is capable of flying 12,600 km (7,800 miles)—roughly one-third of the distance around the world—without refueling and can accommodate more than 70 passengers. Before these planes entered service, two Boeing 707-320B-type aircraft—tail numbers 26000 and 27000—had operated as Air Force One starting in 1962. The Air Force designation for these aircraft was VC-137. Since its inception, Air Force One has become a symbol of presidential power and prestige.

Operation

These aircraft are maintained and operated as military operations by the Presidential Airlift Group, part of Air Mobility Command's 89th Airlift Wing, based at Andrews Air Force Base in Suitland and Clinton, Maryland. The President is often flown in a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter, call sign Marine One, between the Andrews AFB and the White House.

Capability and features

The planes that serve as Air Force One differ from the standard Boeing 747 in size, features, and security precautions. While Air Force One has three floors, like a regular Boeing 747, its interior has been reconfigured for presidential duties. The planes' 4,000 square feet (370 m²) of interior floor space includes multiple modifications. The planes' lowest level is mostly cargo space, carrying luggage and the plane's food supply. The food can supply up to 2,000 meals when fully loaded, some of which is stored in freezers. Meals are prepared in two galleys, which together are equipped to feed about 100 people at a time.

The main passenger area is on the second floor, and communications equipment and the cockpit are on the third floor. There are three entrances onboard. Writer Tom Harris notes:

Passengers can enter through three doors. Two doors, one at the front of the plane and one at the rear, open onto the lower deck, and one door at the front of the plane opens onto the middle deck. Normally, when you see the president in the news getting on and off Air Force One with a wave, he is using the door onto the middle deck and a rolling staircase has been pulled up to the plane. Journalists normally enter through the rear door, where they immediately climb a staircase to the middle deck. Most of the press area looks something like the first class section of an ordinary jetliner, with comfortable, spaced-out seats.

On board Air Force One are medical facilities, including a fold-out operating table, emergency medical supplies, and a well-stocked pharmacy. On every flight there is a staff doctor. In addition, there are separate sleeping quarters for guests, senior staff, Secret Service and security personnel, and the news media; the president's executive suite includes a private dressing room, workout room, lavatory, shower, and private office. These offices, including the president's suite, are mostly located on the right side of the aircraft (while facing forward), and a long corridor runs along the left side. Whenever Air Force One finishes taxiing on the tarmac, it always comes to a stop with the left side of the aircraft, the port side, facing gathered onlookers as a security measure to keep the President's side of the aircraft out of view.

In the office areas, Air Force One features access to photocopying, printing, and word processing, as well as telecommunication systems (including 85 telephones and 19 televisions). There are also secure and non-secure voice, fax, and data communications. Most of the furniture on board was hand-crafted by master carpenters.

The planes can also be operated as a military command center in the event of an incident such as a nuclear attack. Operational modifications include aerial refueling capability and anti-aircraft missile countermeasures. The electronics on board include around 238 miles (383 km) of wiring, twice the amount in a regular 747. These are covered with heavy shielding to protect wires and electronics from the electromagnetic pulse generated by a nuclear attack. The planes also have electronic countermeasures (ECMs) which jam enemy radar, and flares to avoid heat-seeking missiles. Much of Air Force One's other capabilities are classified for security reasons.

History

Prior to World War II, overseas and cross-country presidential travel was rare. Lack of telecommunications and quick transportation made long-distance travel impractical, as it took up much time and isolated the President from events in Washington.

First of "Flying Presidents"

In the 1940s and 1950s, however, air travel became much more convenient. The first president to fly in an airplane while in office was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who traveled on a Boeing 314 "flying boat" aircraft to a 1943 conference in Casablanca on the progress of World War II. The main reason at the time for presidential air travel was the threat of the German Navy's U-boats in the Atlantic. The continuing threat from the submarines established air travel as a usual means of distance transportation for the President.

The first aircraft officially designated for Presidential flight was the C-87A Liberator Express, a reconfigured B-24 bomber. This plane was called Guess Where Two. However, the plane was no longer used for Roosevelt after another C-87A crashed; the Secret Service reconfigured a C-54 Skymaster as a replacement. This plane was nicknamed the Sacred Cow and included a sleeping area, radio telephone, and retractable elevator for Roosevelt's wheelchair. It carried the president to several important events, most notably the Yalta Conference. The Secret Service, not wishing to waste resources, instead put the C-87A plane to use by having Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt use it instead.

After Roosevelt died in spring 1945, Vice President Harry S. Truman became President. He replaced the C-54 with a modified C-118 Liftmaster, calling it the Independence, possibly in reference to President Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri. This was the first aircraft acting as Air Force One that had a distinctive exterior (an eagle head painted on its nose).

The call signs were established for security purposes during the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first American president to have been a pilot in his own right. The change stemmed from a 1953 incident where an Eastern Airlines commercial flight (8610) had the same call sign as a flight the President was on (Air Force 8610). The planes accidentally entered the same airspace, and after the incident the unique call sign "Air Force One" was made for the presidential aircraft.

Eisenhower also introduced two other propeller aircrafts, the Lockheed C-121 Constellations (VC-121E) to Presidential service. These planes were named Columbine II and Columbine III by Mamie Eisenhower after the official state flower of Colorado, her adopted home state. President Eisenhower also upgraded Air Force One's technology by adding an air-to-ground telephone and an air-to-ground teletype machine. Towards the end of Eisenhower's term, in 1958, the Air Force added three Boeing 707 jets into the fleet.

Boeing 707s as Air Force One

With John F. Kennedy, presidential air travel officially entered the jet age. In 1962, he added a modified, long-range 707 to the fleet—SAM 26000. He also commissioned industrial designer Raymond Loewy to create a distinctive exterior for the plane. Loewy came up with a powder blue and white design, the same colors used today; he also had the words "United States of America" put on the fuselage's side and the U.S. flag painted on the tail. Because the aircraft would be solely for the use of the president, Kennedy asked that the Presidential seal be added to both sides of the nose.

In late June 1963, Kennedy flew on SAM 26000 to Berlin, where he made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, and to Ireland. A month earlier, it broke 30 speed records when carrying a delegation to Moscow, including the fastest non-stop flight between Washington and Moscow.

On November 22, 1963, SAM 26000 carried President John F. Kennedy to Dallas, Texas, where early that afternoon he was assassinated. It was on the plane (while it was at Love Field) that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office, and the plane carried Kennedy's body back to Washington. SAM 26000 flew over Arlington National Cemetery as Kennedy was being laid to rest.

SAM 26000 also carried Nixon on his historic trips to mainland China and to Russia in 1972. Later in 1972, SAM 26000 became the backup aircraft when another 707, SAM 27000, arrived.

On January 22, 1973, LBJ died. Two days later, SAM 26000 brought the former president's body on one final journey to Washington, coming from Texas for the state funeral the following day. After the funeral, SAM 26000 brought his body on one final journey home, back to Texas for his burial, landing at Bergstrom AFB in Austin, the airfield Johnson flew into and out of when president. As the former president was laid to rest at his ranch, retired Brigadier General James Cross, pilot of SAM 26000 in Johnson's day, turned over the flag to his wife, Lady Bird, at her request. He also escorted her during the state funeral, also at her request. The role SAM 26000 played during the funeral made several points clear:

• It was the aircraft that LBJ used primarily when president.
• Like with the previous 8 presidents who were honored with state funerals, his family agreed to the public honors in Washington because so many others from around the world wanted to join in—40,000 paid their respects when the former president lay in state.
• Unlike most of those 8 presidents, jets allowed the final services honoring LBJ, which took place on January 25, were completed in one day, despite taking place in different parts of the country.

President Nixon dubbed the presidential airliner The Spirit of 1976, in recognition of the upcoming American bicentennial. In 1974, when Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency and departed from Andrews AFB on Air Force One, it was arranged that the plane's call sign would switch from Air Force One to SAM (Special Air Mission) designation (SAM 27000). It was President Ford who first decided that the name of the aircraft itself should be Air Force One, along with the call sign.

Transition to Boeing 747s

Ronald Reagan's two terms as President saw no major changes to Air Force One but the fabrication of the current 747s began. Most of the interior was completed in Wichita, Kansas. After many delays the aircraft were delivered in 1990, during the administration of George H.W. Bush.

During Reagan's presidency came the most famous episode of former presidents on board. On October 6, 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated. Because of security concerns, Reagan did not attend the funeral, nor did Bush, then-vice president. Instead, Reagan sent Secretary of State Alexander Haig and the living former presidents—Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter—to the funeral. Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was on board. In 1987, Reagan flew on SAM 27000 to Berlin and made his famous "Tear down this wall!" speech.

President George W. Bush added a treadmill to Air Force One. Bush was noted for going to the plane's pressroom to talk to reporters far less than his predecessors. In November 2003, there was a minor controversy when Air Force One's crew lied to the crew of a passing British Airways jet, informing them that the 416-ton 747 was a 45-ton Gulfstream V corporate jet, while transporting George W. Bush to Iraq to spend Thanksgiving with troops stationed there,¹ though White House officials later denied this.².

One of the most dramatic episodes aboard Air Force One happened on September 11, 2001, when it flew President George W. Bush from Sarasota, Florida, where he was interrupted at an education event because of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Instead of returning to Washington, Bush flew to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, and then to the former Strategic Air Command (now United States Strategic Command) headquarters at Offut AFB in Nebraska, before returning to Washington. The following day, officials at the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice said that Bush did this because there was evidence "that the White House and Air Force One were targets."

Location of past planes that served as Air Force One

Aircraft which have formerly served as Air Force One are on display in the Presidential Hangar of the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio (Sacred Cow, Independence, Columbine III, SAM 26000, and other smaller Presidential aircraft), as well as the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington (earlier VC-137B). The Boeing 707 that served as Air Force One during the 1980s (SAM 27000) is on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. A Douglas VC-118A Liftmaster used by John F. Kennedy is on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

New aircraft to fulfill the role of Air Force One may be acquired as soon as 2010, when the current 747s will be 20 years old.

Pop culture

Air Force One is a prominent symbol of the presidency and its power; after the White House, it is probably the most recognized Presidential institution. Air Force One has often been featured in popular culture and fiction, most notably in the 1997 action movie Air Force One, starring Harrison Ford and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. In the film, Russian terrorists hijack Air Force One and hold the President and other passengers hostage.

The film was noted for its fancifully exaggerated depiction of the plane's capabilities; for example, the real Air Force One does not officially carry an escape capsule. While it's generally accepted that Air Force One does not have an escape capsule, the official specs of the aircraft are classified at the highest level, so this fact will never be known.

Air Force One has been featured in other films (Independence Day, Superman, and Escape from New York, which also featured the non-existent escape pod), books (The President's Plane is Missing), and TV series (The West Wing, 24 and NCIS).

Three missions of the Nintendo 64 video game Perfect Dark involve a futuristic Air Force One, and once again featured the escape pod. The player, a secret agent, must attempt to stop the kidnapping of the President during these missions. First they have to sneak aboard the plane at an Alaskan Air Force base. Then they have to protect the President and get him to the escape pod when a aliens conspiring with NSA personnel invade the aircraft mid-flight via a troopship. After the plane crash lands on Victoria Island, the player must once again rescue the president from enemy forces, encountering portions of the aircraft, and furniture from inside it thrown from the impact, along the way.

In Anthony Horowitz' novel Eagle Strike, the teenage spy, Alex Rider, is trapped inside the hijacked Air Force One, providing the reader a description of the plane's interior.

The starship of Colonial President Laura Roslin in the Sci Fi Channel TV series Battlestar Galactica bears the call sign Colonial One and was heavily influenced by Air Force One.

Similarly, in the TV series Babylon 5, the President's ship bears the call sign Earth Force One. In both series, presidents take the oath of office in a scene closely modeled after the swearing in of Lyndon Johnson.

Further, in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the chancellor of the Klingon Empire is carried on a ship called Kronos One (Kronos being the name of the Klingon homeworld).

A stage of the arcade game Ghost Squad has the players retake "Air Force One" from a terrorist group. The plane shown in the FMV's looks more like a Boeing 707 with a noticeably higher fuselage profile or the Airbus Beluga than the Boeing 747.

In the Christian fiction series Left Behind, President Gerald Fitzhugh donates Air Force One to UN Secretary-General Nicolae Carpathia and christens it Global Community One (The Global Community being the name of Nicolae Carpathia's proposed One World Government).

Union Pacific 4141 is an EMD SD70ACe locomotive with a paint scheme based on that of Air Force One.

In fashion, the term "Air Force Ones" is used to describe a particular all-white shoe that has been sold by Nike since the 1980s. These shoes have become popular hip-hop icons, and have even been the focus of a 2002 rap song by rapper Nelly aptly titled "Air Force Ones."

Analogues in other countries

No other mode of transportation for government executives is as well-known as Air Force One; most nations, even industrialized ones, do not maintain a separate aircraft for heads of state and government, although most have a military "VIP fleet" that provides aircraft when senior government officials must travel (for example, the Royal Air Force used to have a Queen's Flight, but it has since merged with the No. 32 Squadron).

Japan maintains two 747-47C (2-1101 and 2-1102) aircraft for the Prime Minister, the Emperor and Empress of Japan, and other Goverment Officials via the JASDF. The planes share an almost similar scheme like Air Force One: Japan spelled out in Katakana and English on the fuselage, a Red Stripe painted across the windows from nose to tail, and the "Rising Sun" Red Dot Flag on the tail and both wings.

A Boeing 707-328C XT-BBF, operated by Naganagani, is used to transport the President of Burkina Faso.

In 2002, the Royal Australian Air Force acquired two new Boeing Business Jets fitted with facilities such as conference tables, offices suites, secure satellite and communication capabilities for use by Australian officials, especially the Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Governor-General. The two planes also had a range capability more than that of other Boeing Business Jets. Prime ministers regularly use the jets for both domestic and international travel.

The aircraft are also made available to the British royal family when in Australia (such as Charles, Prince of Wales in 2005). The planes are operated by the No. 34 Squadron RAAF (which also operates a number of smaller VIP aircraft), based at Fairbairn Airbase, Canberra. The prime minister previously flew in custom-configured Royal Australian Air Force Boeing 707s that were larger than the 737s currently in use.

A used Boeing 767 was purchased by the People's Republic of China government for use by President Jiang Zemin in 2000. An international incident occurred in 2001 when the government claimed it had discovered 27 bugs embedded in the aircraft's interior; the plane had been refitted in San Antonio, Texas.

Brazil has had presidential aircraft since 1941, when Getulio Vargas purchased a Lockheed Lodestar. In 1959, president Juscelino Kubitschek replaced it with two Vickers Viscounts. In 1967, Artur da Costa e Silva acquired a BAC-111, which was used until 1976, when president Ernesto Geisel replaced it with two Boeing 737-200. In 1986, president Jose Sarney purchased a Boeing 707, which was known as Sucatão (Big Junk). The 707 was used until May of 2003, when president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva replaced it for a brand new Airbus A319 Corporate Jetliner, which despite being officially named Santos Dumont, is called Aerolula, in reference to the president's nickname.

Argentina operates a small fleet of aircraft and helicopters for the use of the President, his family and senior government officials. This group is known as Agrupación Aérea Presidencial (Presidential Air Group), and belongs to the Argentine Air Force, but comes under the administration of the Casa Militar ("Military House"), the department responsible for Presidential security and transportation. The current Presidential fleet includes a Boeing 757 popularly known as Tango 01 after its military registry, "T-01" (the "T" stands for "Transport", and is pronounced "Tango" in the NATO Alphabet), a Rockwell Sabreliner, a Fokker F28 and two helicopters, one Sikorsky S-70 and one Sikorsky S-76. Tango 01 has been at times an object of political contention (even a campaign issue during the 1999 Presidential elections), since many politicians and media commentators decry the aircraft as an unnecesary luxury; while others point at the discretion with which the plane is used by several Presidents, their families and their friends and allies for non-official purposes.

Sources and further reading

Text

• "Air Force One" Boeing Corporation. ^[1]
• "Air Force One" United States Air Force. July 2003. ^[2]
• Albertazzie, Ralph, and Jerald F. Terhorst. Flying White House: The Story of Air Force One. Book Sales: 1979. ISBN 0698109309.
• Dorr, Robert F. Air Force One. Motorbooks International: 2002. ISBN 0760310556.
• Hardesty, Von. Air Force One: The Aircraft that Shaped the Modern Presidency. Northword Press: 2003. ISBN 1559718943.
• Harris, Tom. How Air Force One Works. ^[3]
• Walsh, Kenneth T. Air Force One: A History of the Presidents and Their Planes. Hyperion: 2003. ISBN 1401300049.
• Q&A: U.S. Presidential Jet Air Force One by David Braun National Geographic News, May 29, 2003 [4]

Photographs and other multimedia

• Truman Library & Museum.^[5]
• United States Air Force.^[6]
• National Museum of the United States Air Force Presidential Aircraft.^[7]
• Radio communication of the Air Force One monitored by the Frequency Monitor Centre in the Netherlands^[8]
• Video of Air Force One arriving at Prestwick Airport with President Bush on board for the G8 Summit

See also

• Air Force Two
• Air Force 1 (shoe)

Notes

1. Milbank, Dana. "A Baghdad Thanksgiving's Lingering Aftertaste." The Washington Post. December 12, 2003. ^[9]
2. Allen, Mike. "The Bird Was Perfect But Not For Dinner." The Washington Post. December 4, 2003. ^[10]

External links

• Wikimedia Commons has more media related to this article: Air Force One

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