20th century and pilot
Arch Hoxsey before their 1910 flight in
St. Louis 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. He was no longer in office at the time, having been succeeded by
William Howard Taft. The record-making occasion was a brief overflight of the crowd at a county fair but was nonetheless the beginning of presidential air travel.
First presidential aircraft 's
Douglas C-54 Skymaster aircraft, nicknamed the
Sacred Cow Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to fly in an aircraft while in office. 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. Designated RD-2 by the US Navy, it was delivered in 1933 and based at the
naval base at Anacostia in Washington, D.C. The aircraft remained in service as a presidential transport from 1939. 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. Concerned about relying upon commercial airlines to transport the president, officials of the
United States Army Air Forces, the predecessor of the US Air Force, ordered the conversion of a military aircraft to accommodate the special needs of the
commander-in-chief. In 1943, a
C-87A transport, number 41-24159, was modified to carry President Franklin D. Roosevelt on international trips. But after a review of the C-87's controversial safety record, the Secret Service flatly refused to approve the aircraft for presidential carriage. The C-87, a derivative of the
Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber, also carried more militaristic associations than aircraft designed for transport. The aircraft, named
Guess Where II, was used to transport senior members of the Roosevelt administration on various trips. In March 1944, it flew
Eleanor Roosevelt on a goodwill tour of several Latin American countries. The C-87 was scrapped in 1945. The Secret Service subsequently reconfigured a Douglas
C-54 Skymaster for presidential transport duty. The VC-54C aircraft, nicknamed the
Sacred Cow, included a
sleeping area,
radiotelephone, and retractable battery-powered
elevator to lift Roosevelt in his wheelchair. The VC-54C flew President Roosevelt only once, to the
Yalta Conference in February 1945. Eisenhower introduced four propeller-driven aircraft to presidential service. This group included two
Lockheed C-121 Constellations: aircraft
Columbine II (VC-121A 48-610) and
Columbine III (VC-121E 53-7885). They were named by
First Lady Mamie Eisenhower for the
columbine, official state flower of her adopted home state of
Colorado. Two
Aero Commanders were also added to the fleet. Initially used informally, the designation became official in 1962.
Boeing 707s and entry to jet age -era livery Toward the end of Eisenhower's second term, Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles commented that Soviet premier
Nikita Khrushchev and other senior Soviet officials had begun using the technologically advanced
Tupolev Tu-114 aircraft for their travels, and it was no longer dignified for the president to fly in a propeller-driven aircraft. This paved the way for the Air Force's initial procurement of three
Boeing 707-120 (VC-137A)
jet aircraft, designated
SAM (Special Air Missions) 970, 971 and
972, which were constructed at a unit cost of $5.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ) and were initially less lavish than the
Columbine III that had preceded them. 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. Then-Vice President
Richard Nixon first used a VC-137A on his visit to Russia in July 1959 for the opening of the
American National Exhibition that became the site of the impromptu
Kitchen Debates between Nixon and Khruschev. 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 in
Bonn. During Eisenhower's "
Flight to Peace" goodwill tour in December 1959, he visited 11 Asian nations, flying in 19 days, twice as fast as he could have covered that distance in one of the
Columbines.
SAM 970 to
SAM 972 were removed from the presidential role with the January 1963 arrival of the specially built VC-137C designated
SAM 26000. The older planes were repainted in the Loewy secondary livery designed for
Air Force Two and other non-presidential VIP aircraft.
SAM 970 is now on display at
The Museum of Flight in
Seattle, Washington.
SAM 972 was scrapped in October 1996.
Loewy's livery design 's initial design proposal The new
VC-137C was not yet modified for presidential service when
John F. Kennedy took office in 1961. On the recommendation of his wife,
Jacqueline Kennedy, he contacted the French-born American industrial designer
Raymond Loewy for help in designing new livery and interiors for the VC-137C. 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. He offered Kennedy his design consultation services free of charge. Kennedy chose a red-and-gold design from one of Loewy's initial concept sketches, and asked him to render the design all in blue. Loewy also drew inspiration from the first printed copy of the
United States Declaration of Independence, suggesting the widely spaced and upper case
"United States of America" legend in
Caslon typeface. He chose to expose the polished aluminum fuselage on the bottom side and used two blues,
steel blue associated with the early republic and the presidency and a more contemporary water blue , to represent an America both rooted in the past and flying inexorably into the future. The
presidential seal was added to both sides of the fuselage near the nose and a large American flag was painted on the tail. Loewy's work won immediate praise from the president and the press. 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. 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. The presidential paint scheme can also be seen on
Union Pacific 4141, the locomotive used in
George H. W. Bush's funeral train. 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. In October 1962, the modified long-range Boeing VC-137C Stratoliner
SAM 26000, featuring livery designed by Loewy, was delivered and immediately became an important element of the Kennedy administration's brand.
SAM 26000 was in service from 1962 to 1998, serving presidents Kennedy to
Clinton. On 22 November 1963,
SAM 26000 carried President Kennedy to Dallas, Texas, where it served as the backdrop as the Kennedys greeted well-wishers at Dallas's
Love Field. Later that afternoon, Kennedy was
assassinated, and Vice President
Lyndon Johnson assumed the office of president. He took the
oath of office aboard
SAM 26000 before departing to Washington, D.C. Later, in January 1973,
SAM 26000 took Johnson's body home to Texas after his state funeral in Washington. Johnson used
SAM 26000 to travel extensively domestically and to visit troops in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
SAM 26000 served President Nixon on several groundbreaking overseas voyages, including his famous
visit to the People's Republic of China in February 1972 and his trip to the
Soviet Union later that year, both firsts for an American president. Nixon dubbed the plane the "Spirit of '76" in honor of the forthcoming bicentennial of the United States; that logo was painted on both sides of the plane's nose.
SAM 27000 '' served Presidents
Nixon to
George W. Bush. SAM 26000 was replaced in December 1972 by another VC-137C,
Special Air Mission 27000, although SAM 26000 was relegated to non-presidential VIP status (and repainted without the darker blue cap and cheatline), it served as a backup to
SAM 27000 until it was finally retired in 1998. 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. The crew was not informed in advance, so took evasive action including a dive. After announcing his intention to resign the presidency, Nixon boarded
SAM 27000 (with call sign "Air Force One") to travel to California. Colonel Ralph Albertazzie, then pilot of Air Force One, recounted that after
Gerald Ford was sworn in as president, the plane had to be redesignated as
SAM 27000, indicating no president was on board the aircraft. Over Jefferson City, Missouri, Albertazzie radioed: "
Kansas City, this was Air Force One. Will you change our call sign to Sierra Alpha Mike (SAM) 27000?" Back came the reply: "Roger, Sierra Alpha Mike 27000. Good luck to the president."
Boeing VC-25A with President
George W. Bush. Though
Ronald Reagan's two terms as president saw no major changes to Air Force One, the manufacture of the presidential aircraft version of the
747 began during his presidency. The USAF issued a
request for proposal in 1985 for two wide-body aircraft with a minimum of three engines and an unrefueled range of . Boeing with the 747 and McDonnell Douglas with the
DC-10 submitted proposals, and the
Reagan Administration ordered two identical 747s to replace the aging 707 VC-137 variants he used. The interior designs, drawn up by First Lady
Nancy Reagan, were reminiscent of the
American Southwest. 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. On 27 April 2009, a low-flying VC-25 circled New York City for a
photo-op and
training exercise, alarming many New Yorkers. During Joe Biden's
2023 visit to Ukraine, the Air Force One call sign was not used for the C-32 aircraft he flew to
Poland; to increase secrecy, the call sign was
SAM060.
Logistical support When flying with the President, Air Force One rarely flies alone. It is often accompanied by a fleet of aircraft that can include the back-up VC-25, cargo aircraft, and tankers. 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. Longer trips are accompanied by tankers, such as the
McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender, to limit the need to stop for fuel and ensure that AF1 does not take fuel from an unvetted source. The support aircraft will often use several airports in a region to minimize the impact to one particular airport, and Secret Service may also preposition a Gulfstream
C-37B or
Boeing E-4 in a neighboring region for backup. In addition to the president, staff, and flight crew, a VC-25A can carry 102 guests in typical domestic business-class
seats. The back-up VC-25 typically flies with 14 crew, two pilots, six flight crew, two cooks, and four flight attendants. 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. During international state visits, another aircraft may be chartered to accommodate another 150 or more journalists and security personnel. After these stops, the president was returned to Washington, D.C. The next day, officials at the
White House and the
Justice Department explained that President Bush did this because there was "specific and credible information that the White House and Air Force One were also intended targets". 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. ==Planned replacement==