We’re all familiar with the US president’s blue and white Boeing 747, commonly known as Air Force One. Before that, it was applied to the blue and white 707. Most of us also know that the call sign “Air Force One” is applied any USAF plane the president is flying in. The practice was begun during the Eisenhower administration, when there was confusion between his plane (a Lockheed Constellation) and a commercial flight. If the president flies a navy plane, it’s designated Navy One. Civilian flights are called Executive One. The president’s chopper is called Marine One, since it’s operated by the US Marine Corps.
So has any president since Eisenhower ever flown a plane other than a blue and white jet? In other words, has any other plane been designated “Air Force One”? How about Navy One? Executive One?
This is a very brief history of the various presidential airplanes. The term “Air Force One” was not popularized until Kennedy’s term. Before that, Eisenhower had too planes called Columbine II and III, Truman had Independence, and Roosevelt had Sacred Cow.
I’m looking for more sources, but all I have to go on are a couple specials I watched a while ago on The History Channel and The Discovery Channel. If I recall correctly, the Boeing 707 that entered service under Kennedy (number 26000) was the first to be painted with the familiar blue/white/silver theme and labeled “United States of America.”
The predecessor to that one, the VC-137, was (I think) painted orange and silver and labeled “United States Air Force.” The previous planes were just regular air force planes (I think). I’ll keep looking for more.
Am I the only one confused by the OP then? Terminus, you seem to be answering your own question. The only ones who designate a plane/aircraft “Air Force One” or whatever are air traffic control: http://www1.faa.gov/atpubs/ATC/Chp2/atc0204.html#2-4-20
So, k2dave, according to the manual, there could be a Coast Guard One.
To my knowledge, the different planes that have served in that capacity are not christened “Air Force One” like a ship or something.
You said:
Well, by definition, and by your OP, a civilian or Navy aircraft does not get called “Air Force One”. So what is the question here?
I think it’s a pretty clear OP. Air Force One is normally that big blue and silver 747. How often does the president ride in another plane that then becomes Air Force One?
OK, forget about the “Air Force One” naming convention. The question was whether the president has actually flown on any air force plane other than a blue and white 747 (before that, a 707; before that, the Constellation aka “Columbine III”). Sigfried’s link does indeed show a few smaller aircraft. Has the president actually flown on any navy aircraft? What about civilian aircraft? Coast guard?
Slight hijack: Does anyone remember what a ship or a yacht is designated when the President is on board? I remember participating in a thread like this a while back when it came up, but I can’t find it now.
Recently there was a story about Air Force One in the New York Times. It was about candidates running for election would do a lot just to get a picture of themselves with George W. Bush coming out of the plane.
The article said that when the president needs to fly somewhere that doesn’t have a run way that is long enough, he takes a commuter jet, which is named “Air Force One.”
When Richard Nixon was flying back to California after resigning from office, he was flying on “Air Force One” until somewhere over Kansas when at that moment it changed back to its regular name because Gerald Ford had been sworn in as the new president. (Again, this was in the article.)
I also thought the article said FDR took a ship to meet with Churchill. I don’t remember if it said what the ship was designanted while he was on it.
Does the plane that usually functions as Air Force One have a name? I’m speaking of the 747 that normally ferries the president around and assumes that call sign when it does so.
Since the call sign “Air Force One” isn’t attached to any specific craft, that can’t be it (although I hear it referred to as such often). I understand that there’s a nearly identical spare at Andrews AFB, as well: the same question could apply to it, as well.
I’d half-expect some patriotic moniker like “Liberty” to have been applied to the craft, but I’ve never heard.
According to Elvis’s link, the 89th Airlift Wing aircraft fly with a SAM (Special Air Mission) callsign or “Venus,” which I’d never heard before. I thought they just used the tail number. I’m pretty sure they stopped naming planes after WWII.
The aircraft that the President usually flies on - which is most recognizable as “Air Force One” - is a VC-25A… “V” for “VIP”, “C” for “Cargo” (which also applies to people-moving aircraft, not just cargo haulers), “25” is just a numerical designation to tell it apart from other aircraft that perform similar missions, and “A” because it’s the first version of this aircraft built on the Boeing 747 airframe.
From the “Photos” section, under the links for “Specail Duty” and then “Air Force One”:
*Principal differences between the VC-25A (or Air Force One, shown here) and the standard Boeing 747, other than the number of passengers carried, are the electronic and communications equipment aboard Air Force One, its interior configuration and furnishings, self-contained baggage loader, front and aft air-stairs, and the capability for in-flight refueling. These aircraft are flown by the presidential aircrew, maintained by the presidential maintenance branch, and are assigned to Air Mobility Command’s 89th Airlift Wing, Andrews Air Force Base, Md. *
The VC-25A is only “Air Force One” when the President is aboard. If the President were to take a ride in the back seat of an F-15E, that aircraft would become “Air Force One”. Similarly, the USMC helicopter that ferries him to and from the White House is “Marine One” when the President is aboard. I’m not aware of any civilian aircraft ever having been designated “Executive One”, but the doctrine is in place if it ever happens.
I’m reviving this thread, and its inexplicably confusing OP, because I now have the answer to one of my followup questions. The president flew today to the USS Abraham Lincoln on a S-3B Viking designated Navy One. Now we just need to find an Army One and an Executive One.
… reading the link, about how Dubs got refresher training in ditching procedures – now, that crew who got to be in charge of dunking the CinC, that probably made their entire tour o’ duty.
Now if he only were to arrange to also have himself catapulted off… but he’ll probably use a helo for that.
OK folks, I’m actually glad this thread got resurrected.
Flying from Austin to Chicago today we heard the callsign “SAM 29000” checking on frequency. I looked at the captain and said “Do you know who that is?” He didn’t (a poor Navy puke) so I told him that it was a presidential 747 that did not have the President on board (Special Air Mission, and tail number 29000). The tail numbers of the presidential airplanes end in “000”. After we landed in Chicago we figured out that it was the spare 747 following Bush out to San Diego.
As for the “Air Force One” designation, it applies to any Air Force aircraft that the President is on. If he takes a G-V from Andrews to Podunk airfield, then that aircraft is AF1. But the OP (I think) was asking about anything other than the standard Andrews AFB airplanes.
As far I know, the only recent time that Air Force One was a regular Air Force aircraft was in 1998 or so when Clinton flew into Sarajevo. He flew a C-17 into and out of Sarajevo and the aircraft was called “Air Force One” while he was on it. Just a regular gray C-17.
I flew a lot of presidential support missions in the Air Force (in the trusty C-141), so I have a little bit of inside knowledge as to how things work. Just don’t ask me to start a “ask the…” link!!