A couple of weeks ago, the United States Pentagon announced the Boeing 747-8 would be the next platform for Air Force One, replacing the ageing 747-200’s which were introduced in 1990. That got me thinking – what happens to the old Air Force one planes?
I wondered; do they securely scrap them? Like getting rid of secure documents – it happens not via your normal rubbish and recycling run.
These are not just any old aircraft, they are fitted out with kit that we couldn’t even begin to imagine, as a full working White House and command centre in the air.
As it turns out, if history repeats, the current Air Force One will end up in a museum or Presidential library somewhere.
With the help of the knowledgeable and highly qualified team at the Pentagon, EFTM has compiled a list of every US Presidential aircraft to date.
Douglas DC-4.
- The first official Presidential aircraft
- Military designation VC-54C
- Tail number 42-107451
- Named “The Flying White House” and “Sacred Cow.”
- Served Presidents Roosevelt and Truman.
Where to find it: on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio.
Douglas DC-6
- Military designation VC-118
- Tail number 46-505
- Named “The Independence” after President Truman’s home town.
- The aircraft sported an Eagle livery (paint design) and served President Truman.
Where to find it: on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio.
Lockheed L-749 Constellation (the first “Air Force One”)
- Military designation VC-121A
- Tail number 48-610
- Named “Columbine II” (after the state flower of Colorado)
- Served President Eisenhower.
Where to find it: in the Arizona desert at the Marana Regional Airport near Tucson, Arizona.
Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation
- Military designation VC-121E
- Tail number 53-7885
- Named “Columbine III” (again for the state flower of Colorado)
- Served President Eisenhower from November 1954 to the end of his Presidency.
Where to find it: on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio.
Douglas DC-6B
- Military designation VC-118A
- Tail number 53-3240
- Served President Kennedy as the Primary Presidential aircraft until the Boeing 707 aircraft tail number 26000 arrived and then was the Presidential backup aircraft.
- The Air Force stopped naming their aircraft. So this aircraft was unnamed.
Where to find it: on display at the Pima County Air Museum, Tucson Arizona.
Boeing 707
- Military designation VC-137C
- Tail number 26000
- Served Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon.
Where to find it: on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio.
Boeing 707
- Military designation VC-137C
- Tail number 27000
- Served Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush.
Where to find it: on display at the Reagan Presidential Library in California.
Boeing 747-200 (x2)
- Military designation VC-25A
- Tail numbers 28000 and 29000
- Arrived in 1990 and are still in service as the Presidential aircraft.
- To date they have served Presidents George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barak Obama.
Where to find it: Watch the TV news you’ll see President Obama getting around in it now and then:)
