PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
l In 1990, President George H. W. Bush inspects one of the two galleys aboard a new Air Force One, a Boeing 747, on its first flight.
with them, and they are expected to be replaced by three new aircraft starting in 2017. Planes reported as possible replacements include the Boeing 747-8 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. For nearly seventy years, presiden-
President Ronald Reagan speaks with the press before boarding Air Force One on a trip to an economic summit in Japan in 1986. d
tial planes, from civilian aircraft to specially designed and dedicated military aircraft like Air Force One, have enabled US presidents to travel the country and the world in the service of US interests. More than just a private jet or a flying office, Air Force One is a powerful symbol of the United States and an ambassador to every nation it visits. But perhaps
his personal physician, who has access to an onboard pharmacy as well as an operating table), a conference room, and places for office staff, guests, members of the support crew, and the president’s security detail. On Air Force One’s lower level are cargo compartments and communications equipment, while the upper level houses the flight deck, the crew lounge, and the communications center. Sophisticated electronics aboard Air Force One include secure telephones, equipment for sending and receiving coded messages, several two- way radios, numerous televisions, and an array of computers.
Air Force One normally is config- ured to carry around seventy passen- gers and when fully staffed carries a
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crew of twenty-six, each of whom is carefully selected for his work ethic and collegiality. (The ability for crew members to get along is so important that when a vacancy in the crew occurs, a replacement candidate must be endorsed by other crew members in order to secure the position.) Air Force One’s two galleys can be used to prepare meals for up to one hundred people at a time, and freezer and storage areas aboard the aircraft are ample enough to hold food for two thousand meals.
The two planes currently serving as
Air Force One were ordered by President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s and were commissioned in the early 1990s during the presidency of George H. W. Bush. Having flown an average of two hundred thousand miles each year for the last ten years alone, however, time is catching up
u In this photo of President Jimmy Carter and British Prime Minister James Callaghan, taken in 1977, the seal of the president of the United States, which adorns the side of Air Force One, is clearly visible.
President Jimmy Carter best summed up Air Force One’s role as an actor on the world stage when he said the following: “Everywhere we’ve been in the world on Air Force One, and we’ve been many places, I can see within the eyes and the demeanor of those who welcomed us that they sensed that Air Force One at that moment was the United States of America.” ■
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PHOTO: ©JACQUES M. CHENET/CORBIS
PHOTO: ©WALLY MCNAMEE/CORBIS
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