Protecting Air Force One
u Industrial designer Raymond Loewy de- signed the exterior paint scheme for Presi- dent Kennedy’s Air Force One. Decades later, Air Force One still bears the same design.
technically sophisticated than their predecessors, but their exterior paint schemes are the same design created by Raymond Loewy for Kennedy’s Air Force One in the 1960s. The Boeing 707 added to the presidential fleet in 1962, known as SAM 26000 when the president was not on board, was the Air Force One most closely associated with the Kennedy administration and was possibly the most famous Air Force One ever to serve a US president. When President Kennedy made his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in West Berlin in June 1963, it was this Air Force One that took him there, and after he was assassinated in Texas in November 1963, it was the same Air Force One that returned him to Washington. President Johnson was sworn into office aboard this Air Force One, and the plane went on to have a long and distinguished service life, serving five more presidents before being retired in 1998.
Air Force One Today
Today, each of the two Boeing 747- 200Bs that routinely serve as Air Force One is more than 230 feet long and stands more than 63 feet tall at the tail. Each plane also has a wing- span of more than 195 feet and can fly at more than forty-five thousand feet at a speed of 630 miles per hour (nearly the speed of sound). With a range of seven thousand eight hun- dred miles, Air Force One has a truly global reach and is capable of flying
T H E E L K S M A G A Z I N E
A member of the US Secret Service stands guard while Air Force One crosses the tarmac at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2006.
W
HENEVER a US president travels long distances, he generally uses one of two identical Boeing 747-200Bs, which when he is aboard take on the name “Air Force One.” Although travel
aboard Air Force One brings with it its own unique delights, in some cases it brings potential dangers as well. In 1992, for example, President George H. W. Bush traveled to Cartagena, Colombia. En route, he was informed by the Secret Service that terrorists in Colombia had placed a $30 million bounty on him. Anxiety levels among the president’s Secret Service detail and the crew of Air Force One ran understandably high in the wake of this revelation, and Air Force One Chief Flight Steward John Haigh took the threat so seriously that he created a will before the plane landed. This wariness stayed with Haigh even on the ground in Cartagena, where he later recalled feeling “like a turkey in a turkey shoot” while managing the president’s luggage on the tarmac.
Fortunately, the trip went without incident, but this anecdote serves as a reminder that the president’s safety is of great concern even once he is aboard Air Force One. In addition to being a traveling presidential office, Air Force One is also a flying fortress, and although not armed, Air Force One does possess active and passive defense systems, which help ensure that the president arrives at his destination safely.
The passive defenses aboard Air Force One include radar and infrared
systems that can warn against attacks and infrared jamming devices that can help guard against attacks with heat-seeking missiles. Air Force One is also capable of deploying active countermeasures such as chaff (small pieces of aluminum foil or fiberglass that has been given metallic proper- ties), which is capable of confusing radar-guided missiles, and flares, which are capable of interfering with heat-seeking missiles. In addition, all essential wiring and other pieces of equipment aboard Air Force One are shielded to protect them against the disabling electromagnetic pulse produced by a nuclear explosion. —VP
from Los Angeles to Sydney, Austra- lia, nonstop. Unlike standard 747s, however, these planes may be re- fueled in flight, a feature that gives them a virtually unlimited range. In all, there are three levels—an upper level, a main level, and a lower level—on Air Force One, and together
they amount to an astonishing four thousand square feet of space. On the main level, in the forward-most part of the aircraft, are the president’s entrance, the president’s suite, and the president’s office. The main level also contains the medical office (always onboard with the president is
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PHOTO: ©BETTMANN/CORBIS
PHOTO: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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