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 Camp Springs, Maryland. The President is often flown in a U.S. Marine
Corps helicopter, call sign Marine One, between Andrews AFB and the White House.
[edit]
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 include multiple modifications. The planes'
lowest levels are 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 starboard, and a
long corridor runs along the port. Whenever Air Force One rolls up to an event, it always
comes to a stop with the port side of the aircraft facing gathered onlookers as a security
measure to keep the President's side of the aircraft out of view.
Air Force One on the ground.
In the office areas, Air Force One features access to photocopying, printing, and word
processing services, 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 are connected with
approximately 238 miles (383 km) of wiring, twice that of a regular 747. All wiring is
covered with heavy shielding for protection from an electromagnetic pulse in the event of
a nuclear attack. The planes also have electronic countermeasures (ECMs) to jam enemy
radar and flares to avoid heat-seeking missiles. Many of Air Force One's other
capabilities are classified for security reasons.
[edit]
History
The C-54 Skymaster aircraft, nicknamed the Sacred Cow.
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.
[edit]
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.
The Independence.
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 Columbine III
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 aircraft, 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.
[edit]
Boeing 707s as Air Force One
The most famous photo ever taken on Air Force One: Lyndon B. Johnson being sworn in
by Judge Sarah T. Hughes in following the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
President George W. Bush, Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan tour the plane that served
seven presidents from 1973-2001.
With John F. Kennedy, presidential air travel officially entered the jet age. In 1962, he
added a modified, long-range 707 to the fleet—Special Air Missions (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 President Richard 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 last journey home 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. In fact, it was used
most often by LBJ.
Even though he died in Texas, Lady Bird Johnson 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, even though the
mood during the state funeral was one of intense recrimination because the
wounds of the Vietnam War were still raw.

The final services honoring LBJ on January 25 spanned the country in one day
because of jets.
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 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.
SAM 27000 was the primary presidential aircraft for more presidents than any other. It
began service under Nixon and served Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan,
and George H.W. Bush until it was replaced by the 747's in 1990.
[edit]
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. The aircraft was delivered in 1990, during the administration of George H. W.
Bush.
On October 6, 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated. Because of
security concerns, Reagan did not attend the funeral, nor did then-Vice President Bush.
Instead, President Reagan sent Secretary of State Alexander Haig and the living former
presidents—Nixon, Ford, and Carter—to the funeral. Former secretary of state Henry
Kissinger was also 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, the Secret Service ordered Air Force
One 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 Justice
Department said that the plan was enacted because there was evidence "that the White
House and Air Force One were targets."
[edit]
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 SAM 970).
The Boeing 707 that served as Air Force One during the 1980s (SAM 27000) is on
display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The jet is part of a museum of
presidential travel, located at this location. The Air Force One Pavilion was opened to the
public on October 24, 2005.
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.