Air Force One
[11] On 11 October 1910, Theodore Roosevelt became the first US president to fly in an aircraft, an early Wright Flyer from Kinloch Field near St. Louis, Missouri.
The first aircraft obtained specifically for presidential travel was a Douglas Dolphin amphibian modified with luxury upholstery for four passengers and a small separate sleeping compartment.
[14] During World War II, German submarines operating in the Atlantic Ocean made air travel the preferred method of VIP transatlantic transportation.
In 1943, Roosevelt traveled to the Casablanca Conference in Morocco on the Dixie Clipper, a Pan Am-crewed Boeing 314 flying boat, on a flight that covered 5,500 miles (8,890 km) in three legs.
The VC-54C aircraft, nicknamed the Sacred Cow, included a sleeping area, radiotelephone, and retractable battery-powered elevator to lift Roosevelt in his wheelchair.
[29][30] The high-speed jet technology built into these aircraft enabled presidents from Eisenhower through Nixon to travel long distances more quickly for face-to-face meetings with world leaders.
The following month, Eisenhower became the first president to fly via jet airplane when he used SAM 970, nicknamed "Queenie", to meet German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
During Eisenhower's "Flight to Peace" goodwill tour in December 1959, he visited 11 Asian nations, flying 22,000 miles (35,000 km) in 19 days, twice as fast as he could have covered that distance in one of the Columbines.
[31] SAM 971, best remembered for returning the Americans held during the Iran hostage crisis in 1981, is on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.
[6][35][36] Loewy, who had seen SAM 970, complained to a friend in the White House that it "had a garish orange nose and looked too much like a military plane", Air Force One historian and former Smithsonian curator Von Hardesty told CNN.
The cheatline suggested a sleek and horizontal image that mirrored America's Jet Age optimism and prosperity of the era, and today signifies its legacy and tradition.
[7][38][39][40] Loewy's VC-137C livery was adapted for the larger VC-25A when it entered service in 1990, and the secondary variation (without the darker blue cheatline and cap over the cockpit) is still in use on USAF C-40, C-37, C-32, and C-20 aircraft in standard (non-presidential) VIP configurations.
[42] Although he could use the Eisenhower-era jets for trips to Canada, France, Austria, and the United Kingdom, when he came into office, his primary aircraft domestically was still a prop powered Douglas VC-118A Liftmaster.
[43] In October 1962, the modified long-range Boeing VC-137C Stratoliner SAM 26000, featuring livery designed by Loewy would be delivered, and immediately became an important element of the Kennedy administration's brand.
[45] In June 1974, while President Nixon was on his way to a scheduled stop in Syria, Syrian fighter jets intercepted Air Force One to act as escorts.
[49] After announcing his intention to resign the presidency, Nixon boarded SAM 27000 (with call sign "Air Force One") to travel to California.
[52] After the deaths of former Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, VC-25 aircraft flew their remains to their home states of Michigan and California, respectively.
[55] In such cases, up to half a dozen cargo aircraft, such as the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III or the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, precede AF1 by a couple days or more, bringing the presidential limousine and Sikorsky VH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, along with Secret Service personnel and several hundred maintenance crew.
When transporting the President, the primary VC-25A has three cooks and 15 flight attendants, 20 or more Secret Service agents, and some 40 members of the presidential press pool.
[55] On 11 September 2001, George W. Bush was interrupted as he attended an event at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, after an airplane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
The other jet continued on its route, and Tillman said that it was later explained to him that an airliner had lost its transponder, which normally broadcasts an electronic identification signal, and that the pilots on board neglected to switch to another radio frequency.
[60] The White House could not confirm evidence of a threat to Air Force One, and investigation found the original claim to be a result of miscommunication.
[65][66][67] During his first presidency, Donald Trump renegotiated aspects of the contract with Boeing, and threatened to cancel the program if the overall cost exceeded $4 billion.
[68] In an effort to cut costs, the Air Force contracted to purchase two completed but undelivered Transaero 747-8 intercontinental aircraft from Boeing in 2017.
[69][70] The following year, Boeing struck a deal with Trump to adorn the new planes with a "patriotic color scheme" featuring a deep red stripe down the middle of the aircraft and a dark blue underbelly.
Plagued by multiple delays, and the rising cost of the aircraft, this color scheme was scrapped, and a modernized version of the classic Air Force One design was made public in March 2023.
[78] It was referred to as Lady Bird's airplane and later in its service life featured a basic color scheme similar to civilian aircraft.
On 26 December 1973, President Richard Nixon and his family flew as commercial passengers on a United DC-10 from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles International Airport.
[85] Barack Obama used the Gulfstream C-37 variant on a personal trip in 2009 to visit the production of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone in New York.
[96] Another JetStar used during the Johnson presidency is on display at the Hill Aerospace Museum which uncovered presidential markings on the plane while stripping the paint for restoration.
