# The first "Air Force One"



## railiner (Apr 14, 2020)

Thought some of you might be interested in this....


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## Dakota 400 (Apr 14, 2020)

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this. Columbine III is housed at the Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio along with some other Presidential aircraft. 

Boeing is building two new planes to replace the current "Air Force One"s in service and it is hoped that the Air Force Museum will be able to obtain the current Air Force One.


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## jis (Apr 14, 2020)

Dakota 400 said:


> Very interesting. Thanks for posting this. Columbine III is housed at the Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio along with some other Presidential aircraft.
> 
> Boeing is building two new planes to replace the current "Air Force One"s in service and it is hoped that the Air Force Museum will be able to obtain the current Air Force One.


There are actually two VC-25As (specially equipped 747). Only when the President is on board does the plane become Air Force One. Otherwise it is a plain old VC-25A. 

Indeed I believe there is also a pair of C-32 (specially equipped 757-200s IIRC), which can become Air Force One if need be, i.e they are specially equipped to serve as a Presidential plane. They have seen used as Air Force One to make it possible for the President to fly into smaller airports.


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## blueman271 (Apr 14, 2020)

jis said:


> There are actually two VC-25As (specially equipped 747). Only when the President is on board does the plane become Air Force One. Otherwise it is a plain old VC-25A.
> 
> Indeed I believe there is also a pair of C-32 (specially equipped 757-200s IIRC), which can become Air Force One if need be, i.e they are specially equipped to serve as a Presidential plane. They have seen used as Air Force One to make it possible for the President to fly into smaller airports.


Technically any Air Force plane the president is on, regardless of its configuration, is Air Force One. The same way any Navy plane he is on becomes Navy One, Marine aircraft becomes Marine One etc. 
An example of this was back in 2003 when GW flew aboard an S-3 Viking to the Abraham Lincoln to give his famous mission accomplished speech. The aircraft didn’t have any special configuration but as soon as he stepped onboard it became Navy One.


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## jis (Apr 15, 2020)

blueman271 said:


> Technically any Air Force plane the president is on, regardless of its configuration, is Air Force One. The same way any Navy plane he is on becomes Navy One, Marine aircraft becomes Marine One etc.


That is correct.

I have wondered why this XYZ-One designation applies apparently only to airborne vessels.


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## railiner (Apr 15, 2020)

jis said:


> That is correct.
> 
> I have wondered why this XYZ-One designation applies apparently only to airborne vessels.


Ships generally do not receive radioed traffic control orders, except for a few places...


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## TWA904 (Apr 15, 2020)

jis said:


> Indeed I believe there is also a pair of C-32 (specially equipped 757-200s IIRC), which can become Air Force One if need be, i.e they are specially equipped to serve as a Presidential plane. They have seen used as Air Force One to make it possible for the President to fly into smaller airports.


In 2004 when George Bush was running for a 2nd term, he came to Farmington, NM and flew in on a B757.


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## me_little_me (Apr 16, 2020)

The first "Air Force One" might have been President Harding's car "Superb"!


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## jis (Apr 16, 2020)

TWA904 said:


> In 2004 when George Bush was running for a 2nd term, he came to Farmington, NM and flew in on a B757.


Yeah. One of the C-32s most likely.


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