Air Force One

Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used to transport the president and a metonym for the primary presidential aircraft, VC-25, although it can be used to refer to any Air Force aircraft the president travels on.[1][2]

The idea of designating specific military aircraft to transport the president arose during World War II when military advisors in the War Department were concerned about the risk of using commercial airlines for presidential travel. A C-54 Skymaster was then converted for presidential use; dubbed the Sacred Cow, it carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in February 1945 and was used for another two years by President Harry S. Truman.[citation needed]

The "Air Force One" call sign was created in 1953, after a Lockheed Constellation carrying President Dwight D. Eisenhower entered the same airspace as a commercial airline flight using the same flight number.[3] Since the introduction of SAM 26000 in 1962, the primary presidential aircraft has carried the distinctive livery designed by Raymond Loewy.[4][5]

Other aircraft designated as Air Force One have included another Lockheed Constellation, Columbine III, three Boeing 707s, introduced in the 1960s and 1970s, and the current Boeing VC-25As. Since 1990, the presidential fleet has consisted of two highly customized Boeing 747-200B (VC-25A) aircraft.[4] The USAF has ordered two Boeing 747-8s to serve as the next presidential aircraft, with designation VC-25B.

Other presidential aircraft

During the Johnson Administration, the United States Air Force acquired a Beechcraft King Air B90 which was designated VC-6A (66-7943).[71] The aircraft was used to transport President Johnson between Bergstrom Air Force Base and his family ranch near Johnson City, Texas,[72] and was used at least once to transport the President to Princeton, New Jersey.[73] It was referred to as Lady Bird's airplane and later in its service life featured a basic color scheme similar to civilian aircraft.[74] When the President was aboard, the aircraft used the call sign Air Force One.[73]

United Airlines is the only commercial airline to have operated Executive One, the call sign given to a civilian flight on which the US president is aboard. 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. His staff explained that this was done to conserve fuel by not having to fly the usual Boeing 707 Air Force aircraft.[75]

In November 1999, President Bill Clinton flew from Ankara, Turkey, to Cengiz Topel Naval Air Station outside Izmit, Turkey, aboard a marked C-20C (Gulfstream III) using the call sign Air Force One, escorted by three F-16s.[76]

On March 8, 2000, President Clinton flew to Pakistan aboard an unmarked Gulfstream III while another aircraft with the call sign Air Force One flew on the same route a few minutes later. This diversion was reported by several US press outlets.[77][78][79]

On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush flew in the co-pilot seat of a Sea Control Squadron Thirty-Five (VS-35) S-3B Viking from Naval Air Station North Island, California to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast, where Bush delivered his "Mission Accomplished" speech. During the flight, the aircraft used the call sign of "Navy One" for the first time. This aircraft is now on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.[80]

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.[81][82]

Several Boeing C-17 Globemaster IIIs typically accompany the president whenever he travels, carrying the presidential limousines and other support vehicles, and have been rumored to have discreetly transported presidents and vice presidents in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan without using the Air Force One call sign.[83][84]

A Boeing C-32 (Boeing 757) that was occasionally used as Air Force One until the arrival of newer C-32s in the 2010s. Today, this plane flies the vice president (serving as Air Force Two) or other senior officials.

Since 1998, the president has occasionally flown aboard an Air Force C-32, a narrow-body jet based on the Boeing 757 airliner.[85][86] The Air Force bought four C-32s in 1996 to fly the president to airports whose runways were too small to accommodate the larger VC-25, or as emergency backup. Today, these aircraft are used to fly vice presidents and other senior officials.[87]

In the 2010s, the Air Force acquired a second set of four 757s for presidential transport, assigning them tail numbers 90015, 90016, 90017, and 90018. Service officials do not acknowledge that these aircraft exist, although they are routinely photographed in presidential service.[87]

Vice presidents have used a VC-25 on longer trips, using the Air Force Two call sign.[88]

The president regularly flies in helicopters (call sign Marine One) operated by the U.S. Marine Corps.