Military and Strategic Journal
Issued by the Directorate of Morale Guidance at the General Command of the Armed Forces
United Arab Emirates
Founded in August 1971

2019-08-08

Air Force One: The Past, Present and Future of the Flying Oval Office

No matter where in the world the President of the United States travels, if he flies in an Air Force jet, then that plane is called Air Force One. Technically, Air Force One is the call sign of any Air Force aircraft carrying the President but in practice, Air Force One is used to refer to one of two highly customised Boeing 747-200B series aircraft carrying the tail codes 28000 and 29000, while the Air Force designation for the aircraft is VC-25A.
 
Air Force One is one of the most recognisable symbols of the U.S. presidency, spawning countless references, not just in American culture but across the world. Emblazoned with the words “United States of America”, the American flag and the Seal of the President of the United States, it is an undeniable presence wherever it flies or docks.
 
Capable of refuelling mid-air, Air Force One has unlimited range to carry the President wherever he needs to travel. The onboard electronics are hardened to protect against an electromagnetic pulse, while Air Force One is equipped with advanced secure communications equipment to allow the aircraft to function as a mobile command centre in the event of an attack on the United States.
 
Air Force One is maintained and operated by the Presidential Airlift Group, part of the White House Military Office. The Airlift Group was founded in 1944 as the Presidential Pilot Office at the direction of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. For the next 20 years, various propeller-driven aircraft served the President. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy became the first President to fly in his own jet aircraft, a modified Boeing 707. Several other jet aircraft have been used over the years, with the first of the current aircraft being delivered in 1990 during the administration of President George H. W. Bush.
 
Through the Jet Age, from President Roosevelt in the 20th century to Donald Trump in this one, Boeing airplanes have been transporting U.S. presidents across the world. Now the U.S. Air Force has announced that it will continue the Boeing tradition with the 747-8 replacing the two 747-200s currently serving as the presidential Air Force One fleet to mark more than half a century of Boeing presidential service.
 
Air Force One Features 
Other than the number of passengers carried, the principal differences between the VC-25 and the standard Boeing 747 are the electronic and communications equipment, self-contained baggage loader, front and aft air-stairs and in-flight refuelling capability. 
 
Inside Air Force One, the President and his travel companions enjoy 4,000 square feet of floor space on three levels, including an extensive suite for the President that features a large office, rest room and conference room. Air Force One also features a medical suite that can function as an operating room, while a doctor is permanently on board and the plane’s two food preparation galleys can feed 100 people at a time.
 
In addition, the VC-25-‘Air Force One’ boasts quarters for those who accompany the President, including senior advisors, Secret Service officers, the travelling press corps and other guests. Typically, multiple cargo planes fly ahead of Air Force One to provide the President with the services he requires in remote locations.
 
A Historical Snapshot
For the United States, Presidential air transport began in 1944 when a VC-54 nicknamed the "Sacred Cow" entered service for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As Roosevelt’s successor, President Harry S. Truman used the aircraft extensively during the first two years of his administration. 
 
On 26th July 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act on board the Sacred Cow to establish the U.S. Air Force as an independent service. Nicknamed "Independence”, the VC-118 appeared soon after to transport President Harry S. Truman during the period 1947-1953, with its name coming from President Truman’s hometown of Independence, Missouri. 
 
President Dwight D. Eisenhower travelled aboard a VC-121A and VC-121E from 1953-1961, both nicknamed "Columbine II" and "Columbine III". These two aircraft were named after the official state flower of Colorado in honour of Mrs. Eisenhower’s home state. While the call sign "Air Force One" was first used in the 1950s, President Kennedy's VC-137 was the first aircraft to be popularly known as "Air Force One". 
As arguably the best known and most historically significant presidential aircraft, a VC-137C specifically purchased for use as Air Force One entered into service in 1962 with the tail number 26000. This aircraft carried President Kennedy to Dallas on 22nd November 1963 and returned the body of the president to Washington D.C. following his assassination. 
 
Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office as the 36th President of the United States on board the aircraft at Love Field in Dallas. In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon made historic visits aboard 26000 to the People's Republic of China and to the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 
 
Tail number 27000 replaced 26000 and carved its own history when it was used to fly Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter to Cairo on 19th October 1981 to represent the United States at the funeral of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. 
 
The first VC-25A, with tail number 28000, flew as "Air Force One" on 6th September 1990, when it transported President George Bush to Kansas, Florida and back to Washington D.C. A second VC-25A with tail number 29000 transported Presidents Clinton, Carter and Bush to Israel for the funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. 
 
Tail number 29000 also carved its name in history on 11th September 2001 when President George W. Bush was interrupted during a visit to Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, following the attack on the World Trade Centre South Tower in New York City. Despite increased threats, the aircrew safely returned the President and staff members back to Washington D.C.
On 23rd March 2016, tail number 28000 had the honour of transporting President Barack H. Obama on a historic trip to Cuba. It was the first visit by a sitting U.S. president since President Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
 
The 747 “Incredibles”
Today, these aircraft are operated and maintained by the Presidential Airlift Group and assigned to Air Mobility Command's 89th Airlift Wing located at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. The VC-25A hence continues the unique mission of presidential travel, upholding the proud tradition and distinction of being known as "Air Force One".
 
The 747 itself was the result of the work of some 50,000 Boeing staff. Called "the Incredibles", these construction workers, mechanics, engineers, secretaries and administrators made aviation history by building the largest civilian airplane in the world in less than 16 months during the late 1960s.
 
The incentive for creating the giant 747 came from reductions in airfares, a surge in air-passenger traffic and increasingly crowded skies. Yet following the loss of the competition for the C-5A, a gigantic military vessel, Boeing set out to develop a large advanced commercial aircraft to take advantage of the high-bypass engine technology developed for the C-5A. 
The design philosophy behind the 747 was hence to develop a completely new plane. That is to say that other than the engines, the designers purposefully avoided using any hardware developed for the C-5.
 
747-8: The Next Air Force One  
In 1990, two 747-200Bs were modified to serve as Air Force One and replaced the VC-137s (707s) that served as the presidential airplane for nearly 30 years.  
 
The 747-400 was then rolled out in 1988. Its wingspan is 212 feet (64 metres), with 6-foot-high (1.8-metre-high) "winglets" on the wingtips. The 747-400 was also produced as a freighter, a combination freighter and a passenger model, but was produced without the winglets in a special domestic version for shorter-range flights.
 
In November 2005, Boeing presented the 747-8 family. These aircraft had 51 additional seats and 26 percent more revenue cargo volume than the 747-400. 
 
In 2018, the U.S. Air Force awarded a contract to the Boeing Company to design, modify, test, certify and deliver two presidential, mission-ready aircraft by 2024. The contract action formalises President Trump’s agreement reached with Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing’s President, Chairman and CEO on 20th February 2018, setting a price of US$3.9 billion for the two completed Air Force One replacement aircraft and saving the taxpayers over US$1.4 billion.
 
This contract modification is firmly price-fixed and contains over-and-above provisions to address both presidential quality items, with an additional test effort induced by the government above the planned programme baseline. Consequently, the U.S. Air Force is collaborating with Boeing on the VC-25B programme to deliver the next Air Force One fleet by 2024. When the 747-8 takes flight as the next Air Force One, Boeing airplanes will mark more than half a century of presidential service through the Jet Age.
 
Reference Text/Photos:www.boeing.com,www.af.mil,www.whitehouse.gov

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