Air Force One

Air Force One is the official air traffic control call signfor a United States Air Force aircraft carrying thePresident of the United States. In common parlance the term describes those Air Force aircraft designed, built, and used to transport the president. The presidential aircraft is a prominent symbol of the American presidency and its power.

The idea of designating specific military aircraft totransport the President arose in 1943, when officials of the United States Army Air Forces, the predecessor to the U.S. Air Force, became concerned over the reliance on commercial airlines to transport the president. A C-87 Liberator Express was reconfigured for use as a presidential transport, but the Secret Service rejected it because of its safety record. A C-54 Skymasterwas then converted for presidential use; this aircraft, dubbed the Sacred Cow, carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in February 1945 and was subsequently used for another two years by President Harry S. Truman.

The "Air Force One" call sign was created after a 1953 incident during which a Lockheed Constellation named Columbine II, carrying President Dwight D. Eisenhower, entered the same airspace as a commercial airline flight using the same call sign. A number of aircraft types have been used as Air Force One since the creation of the presidential fleet, starting with two Lockheed Constellations in the late 1950s: Columbine II and Columbine III. It also has included two Boeing 707s, introduced in the 1960s and 1970s; since 1990, the presidential fleet has comprised two Boeing VC-25As, which are specifically configured, highly customized Boeing 747-200B series aircraft. The Air Force plans to procure the Boeing 747-8 for the next version of Air Force One. Source: Wikipedia 

SAM 28000, one of the two VC-25s used as Air Force One,
flying over Mount Rushmore in February 2001.

SAM 28000 sits on the tarmac as Air Force One (in the background)
 descends on final approach into Hickam Field in Honolulu,
Hawaii with President George W. Bush aboard.

 

President Barack Obama meets with staff mid-flight aboard
Air Force One, in the conference room, 3 April 2009.

Air Force One, the presidential state car, and Secret Service Agents

Boeing 707 SAM 26000 served Presidents Kennedy to Clinton,
and was the primary transport from Kennedy to Nixon.

Boeing 707 SAM 27000 served Presidents Nixon to George H. W. Bush;
 it was the primary transport for Nixon to Reagan.

A Boeing C-32 (Boeing 757) serving as Air Force Two

The VC-121 Columbine III used by President Eisenhower

Lockheed JetStar used by President Johnson on display
at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park

The VC-118 Independence used primarily by President Truman

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's C-54 Skymaster
aircraft, nicknamed "the Sacred Cow"

Theodore Roosevelt and pilot Arch Hoxsey before
 their flight, St. Louis October 11, 1910