Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Air Force One

Episode Date: September 6, 2021

The era of presidential aviation began on October 11, 1910 when former president Theodore Roosevelt took to the skies in a Wright Brothers Flyer at a county fair in Saint Louis. The flight only lasted a few minutes. Fast forward 110 years, and the President of the United States has one of the sweetest rides on the planet. Learn more about Air Force One, the airplanes which have served presidents, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The era of presidential aviation began on October 11, 1910, when former president, Theodore Roosevelt, took to the skies on a Wright Brothers flyer at a county fair in St. Louis. The flight only lasted a few minutes. Fast forward 100 to 10 years, and the president of the United States has one of the sweetest rides on the planet. Learn more about Air Force One, the airplanes which have served the presidents, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Do you ever climb into bed ready to sleep, only to have your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow? thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day, or jumping ahead to tomorrow. That is exactly why Catherine Nikolai created Nothing Much Happens.

Each episode is a gentle, cozy bedtime story where, well, nothing much happens. No drama, no tension, nothing you need to follow closely. Just soft narration, calming repetition, and soothing sensory details designed to help your mind slow down and your body relax. It's not about entertainment, it's about rest. And millions of listeners around the world use it every night to quiet their thoughts and finally fall asleep. If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing. You can listen to Nothing Much Happens wherever you get your podcasts.

Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. This episode is sponsored by Brilliant.org. Brilliant's mission is to inspire and develop people to achieve their goals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, one person, one question, and one small commitment to learning at a time. They enable great teachers to illuminate the soul of math, science, and engineering through bite-sized interactive learning experiences. Their courses explore the laws that shape our world,

elevating math and science from something to be feared to a delightful experience of guided discovery. If you're interested in learning more about any STEM subject, go to Everything- Everywhere.com slash Brilliant. Once again, that's everything-everywhere.com slash brilliant. As I mentioned in the introduction, the first U.S. president of any sort to fly in an airplane was Theodore Roosevelt. It was a rather short flight, as airplanes at the time didn't have a very long range,

and it was probably one of the more dangerous flights ever attempted by a president, sitting, or former. However, after this short sightseeing flight, U.S. presidents didn't do any flying. It would be another 33 years before an actual sitting U.S. president would get on an airplane. The first airplane designated for presidential use was purchased in 1933. It was a Douglas Dolphin amphibious aircraft, and it was operated by the U.S. Navy, as there was no Air Force at the time. The codename it was given was R.D.2.

It could seat four passengers, and there was a small sleeping compartment. The interior was custom made for presidential use with leather seats. It was stationed at the Anacosta Naval Air Base in Washington, D.C. until 1939. And during that time, it was never once used by the president. To be fair, FDR was in a wheelchair and getting in and out of an airplane, especially a small amphibious plane, was probably something that he wasn't keen to do. However, he did eventually take a flight. The very first airplane flight by a sitting U.S. president took place on January 11, 1943, when Franklin Roosevelt flew on the Dixie Clipper.

It was a commercial Boeing 314 clipper, which was operated by Pan Am. He flew 5,500 miles to the Casablanca Conference in Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaul. The flight was done in three stages, and he flew rather than took a ship, because it was considered safer than risking German U-boats in the Atlantic. After the trip, the Army Air Force didn't want to rely on commercial airlines for presidential transportation. They proposed the president use a modified C-87 Liberator Express heavy bomber. The plane was dubbed the Guess Where, too. However, when the Secret Service reviewed the safety record of the plane, they rejected it for presidential use. The plane was used for carrying the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, however, on a trip to Latin America, but it never carried the president.

The Secret Service then approved a Douglas C-54 Skyman. which was a transport plane used in the war. It was named the Sacred Cow, and it had sleeping quarters, a radio telephone, and a lift for getting Roosevelt in and out of the plane in his wheelchair. The only time he used it was to travel to the Yalta Conference in February of 1945. This plane is on display at the museum at the Wright-Patterson Air Force base outside Dayton, Ohio. The Sacred Cow was used in 1947 by President Truman to sign the bill which created the U.S. Air Force. The newly created Air Force upgraded the presidential plane in 1947 to a Douglas DC6.

The plane was dubbed The Independence after his hometown, and it was really unlike any other presidential plane. Unlike modern presidential planes, which are branded with the United States, this plane had the word independence on the outside with a painted eagle head on its nose. It was really more Truman branding than America branding. This was a much larger plane than previous ones, and it could seat 24 people. None of these aircraft were technically Air Force One because that call sign didn't exist yet. That came about in 1953 when there was a confusion with two aircraft in the sky with similar call signs.

Eastern Airlines Flight 8610 and Air Force Flight 8610 cross paths in the air while President Eisenhower was on board. It caused confusion with air traffic controllers, so the Air Force decided to start informally calling whatever airplane the president was on Air Force One. This informal call sign became official. in 1962. Here I should note that Air Force One doesn't refer to any specific aircraft. Air Force One is officially the call sign for any aircraft that the sitting president happens to be in at that time. If the president is flying in a homemade kit airplane, while that airplane is

flying, it's known as Air Force One. Colloquially, however, Air Force One is usually referring to whatever government-controlled aircraft is dedicated for presidential use. Eisenhower, had four different aircraft which were dedicated for presidential use, and all of them were propeller aircraft. Towards the end of the Eisenhower administration, Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles noted that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev flew in a jet-powered Tuplov-T-U-14. He thought it looked bad for the President of the United States to be using backward technology. So, the President entered the jet era. The Boeing Corporation delivered its first presidential aircraft. Three Boeing 707 120s. They were dubbed Sam, meaning special air missions. These are the call

signs used by the presidential aircraft when the president is not on board. Some of the boines were not yet delivered when President Kennedy took office. He and Mrs. Kennedy hired industrial designer Raymond Lowy to redesign the interior of the incoming aircraft. While working on this, they also redesigned the exterior of the plane. They selected a blue color and had the words, the United States of America, prominently displayed on the exterior in a font known as Caslon. This design with a polished aluminum bottom, white top, and with a blue stripe and text, is the same basic design that every presidential aircraft has used for the last 60 years.

The aircraft delivered in 1962 was given the number SAM 26,000. It was first used on November 10, 1962, to fly President Kennedy to the funeral of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. SAM 26,000 was in use from 1962 to 1998 and served every president from Kennedy to Clinton, although it wasn't always the primary plane. This plane was made famous for being the location of Lyndon Johnson's inauguration, and was also involved in a flyover during President Kennedy's funeral, followed by 50 fighter jets.

SAM 26,000 is currently on display at the Wright-Patterson Museum. SAM 27,000 was another modified Boeing 707, which entered service in 1972. When S.A.M. 27,000 was put into service, the 26,000 became a secondary plane. The S.A.M. 27,000, was dubbed the Spirit of 76 by Richard Nixon, and he had it painted on the nose. This was the plane that famously took President Nixon to China. When Nixon resigned, his resignation took effect when he was in the air over Missouri. The pilot, Colonel Ralph Albertasi, changed the call sign of the aircraft when the appointed time arrived by notifying Kansas City

air traffic control, that Air Force One was now SAM 27,000 because the president was not on board. During the tenure of President Ford, the plane was equipped with defensive systems for heat-seeking missiles, and he was also the first to start calling the plane itself Air Force One, not just the call sign. SAM 27,000 also served presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and the other Bush. Its last flight was on August 29, 2001, when it flew President George W. Bush and his family to the ranch outside Waco, Texas. S. AM 27,000 is now on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum in California. In 1990, the current presidential planes were brought into service. The Boeing VC-25 is a modified military version of a Boeing 747, and there are currently two of them. They have the codes

SAM 28,000 and SAM 29,000. These planes have capabilities that previous presidential aircraft lacked. They can refuel in flight, which means they can basically fly indefinitely. They have enough communications equipment on board to run the entire military from the air. After the attacks on September 11th, they were upgraded such that the president can do a live broadcast on board to the entire nation. All of the wiring aboard the aircraft are shielded to protect it from a nuclear electromagnetic pulse, and there is twice as much cable as what is normally found on a 747. SAM 28,000 and 29,000 are probably the most sophisticated aircraft in the world from a communications perspective. The current planes have sleeping quarters for the presidential family and other members of the presidential staff, as well as a seating section for members of the press.

There is 4,000 square feet of space available on the plane, including a medical facility where surgeries can be performed if necessary. As the current aircraft are over 30 years old, there is a search underway for a replacement. The current plan is to use a Boeing 747-8. When all of the customization required for a presidential aircraft is factored in, each plane is estimated to cost $4 billion. There are even some plans for a supersonic Air Force One. The planes are not just used for presidential use. The vice president or other cabinet officials can fly in them, and they don't use the Air Force One call sign for those uses. Any plane the vice president is in is known as Air Force 2.

If it's carrying someone else, it just goes by its Sam designation. On some special occasions, it will use a special call sign. When a former president leaves office, tradition holds that the new president lets them fly home on Air Force One. The flight code is usually the number of the president. When Barack Obama left Washington, the flight was S.A.m. 44, because he was the 44th president. When the coffin of President George H.W. Bush was flown back to Washington, it was given flight S.A.m. 41. I mentioned before that any plane with the sitting president on board is considered to be Air Force One. There have been a few cases where an aircraft, other than one of the Sam-designated aircraft, was Air Force One.

There was a small propeller plane used to fly President Johnson to his ranch from the nearest Air Force Base. That plane is now on display at the Johnson Ranch. On December 26, 1973, Richard Nixon and his family flew on a commercial United flight, and that flight, and with all its passengers, was Air Force One. On March 8, 2000, President Clinton flew on an unmarked Gulf Stream 3 that was not assigned Air Force One. There was another plane with it that had that call sign as a decoy as he was flying to Pakistan. And of course, on May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush flew to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln for his famous Mission Accomplished speech. He flew there on a Lockheed S3 Viking.

At least one of the planes is always kept ready in the event that the president might need it or to be evacuated. I should also make note of the other presidential aircraft, Marine One. Marine 1 is the call sign for any aircraft operated by the Marine Corps which carries the president. And it's almost always a helicopter. The first use of a presidential helicopter was in 1957 when President Eisenhower wanted an easier way to get to a summer home in Pennsylvania. The current use of presidential helicopters is mostly to transport the president from the White House to Air Force 1 at Joint Base Andrews. Marine 1 always flies in a group with up to five other identical helicopters to serve as decoys. The primary reason a helicopter is used rather than a car is that it doesn't cause traffic delays.

Air Force One has been called the greatest job perk in the world, and that's probably true. However, it is also one of the most globally recognized symbols of the American presidency. The associate producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Thor Thompson. If you'd like to support the show, please donate over at patreon.com. There is content only available to supporters, merchandise, and even opportunities for a show-producer or credit. If you know someone you think would enjoy the show, please share it with them. Also remember, if you leave a five-star review, I'll read your review on the show.