"Air Force One" refers to the air radio call sign owned by the Air Force aircraft carried by the President of the United States, but it does not refer specifically to a certain aircraft. All of this was only taken seriously after an accident in 1953, when China Eastern Airlines Flight 8610 was renamed the same as Presidential Jet 8610 and belonged to the same airspace, which was later changed to "Air Force 8610".
Overview of Air Force One
But in reality, it wasn't until 1962 that the president's plane began to be called Air Force One. After that, the president's planes had a special name, which was used to distinguish them from all ordinary flights.
Although the United States is the birthplace of aircraft, American aviation technology has also been in a long-term backward state in Europe. At the beginning of the 20th century, the industrial and scientific and technological base of the United States was not as good as that of the old Powers of Europe at that time. Even the crops planted by farmers at that time were still single cotton, and the backwardness of science and technology led to the loss of crops planted by farmers as long as they encountered a pest.
In late May 1910, natural disasters caused by cotton weevils ravaged Alabama. Wherever the weevils went, hundreds of farmers worked so hard to harvest the cotton fields, and their long-term efforts were wasted as soon as the pests were rampant. William Howard Taft, then the 27th president of the United States, got the news and flew to inspect the cotton fields, where he saw the bare cotton fields in the wilderness. After that, the United States began to organize the post-disaster reconstruction of the victims, and vigorously guided farmers to plant corn, peanuts, fruit trees and other crops... In this way, the American farmers of that year finally achieved a great harvest.
Admittedly, who would have thought that the first time a historic U.S. president flew a plane to inspect a cotton field that was plagued by weevils...
It wasn't until Roosevelt's presidency that the first aircraft configured for the president was the Libertadores C-87A called CWII (Guess Where II). But because of the safety record of the unit C-87A. The plane could only be used by senior White House personnel, including the First Lady, when they established diplomatic relations with Latin America.
Libertador Express C-87A
President Roosevelt was equipped with a Douglas C-54 four-engine screw machine, nicknamed the "Holy Cow". The aircraft contains a rest area, a cordless telephone and an elevator that allows Roosevelt to enter the plane's belly in a wheelchair. At this time, the special aircraft has begun to take shape, although the "Holy Bull" has only been used once from being configured to decommissioning.
Douglas C-54
In 1947, The 33rd President of the United States, Truman, replaced the Holy Bull with a Douglas DC-6 four-engine special aircraft, and named it "Independence" in Truman's hometown. The nose was painted in the form of the white-headed sea eagle of the United States, according to Truman's request, to reflect that he was an ambitious and action-oriented leader.
Douglas DC-6
In 1953, Eisenhower was elected president. He used two Lockheed C-121s, dubbed them Columbine II and SPDII, and equipped them with two small aviation commanders. Later, in 1962, during Eisenhower's term, in order to distinguish the plane carried by the president from the aircraft carried by the president, and also for safety reasons, the presidential plane began to be uniformly referred to as "Air Force One", and has been used ever since.
Lockheed C-121
Since the Kennedy administration, the US president's special plane has entered the era of jets. In October 1962, the Kennedy administration acquired a Boeing VC-137 with a tail number of 26,000. Although its design is derived from the VIP transport aircraft of the Boeing 707 airliner. The aircraft was painted with the words "United States of America", exactly as in the United States Declaration of Independence. At the same time, the nose is painted with the U.S. presidential insignia on both sides, and the tail of the aircraft is sprayed with a large proportion of the American flag.
This very beautiful "Air Force One" shape has been used until now.
Boeing VC-137
In 1963, the Boeing 747 carried Kennedy to Dallas, but was assassinated. Lincoln Johnson's oath of succession to the present may have accepted the lesson of the president's assassination, and the "Air Force One", as a special plane carrying the president, has an increasingly strong defensive power and not weak attack power.
Today, the facilities of Air Force One have become more and more complete. It serves as the president's special plane, although it does not have a fixed type and number, but actually contains two aircraft. It is the main engine and the auxiliary aircraft, and if the main engine fails, the president of the machine can change the auxiliary aircraft at any time. And every time it takes off, the main and auxiliary planes take off together, and there is a heavily armed F16 fighter on the side of the main engine, synchronously escorting, ensuring that the president and the "nuclear football" on the plane are foolproof. As for the details of the flight, it is strictly confidential. This shows the caution of the president's security protection work.
F16 fighter
Not only that, but the pilot who wants to become air force one also has to go through thousands of selections. First of all, there must be at least 2,000 hours of worldwide flight experience, and there must be a flawless flight record. In addition, the aircraft of "Air Force One" also has a more rugged appearance and more comprehensive defense means than ordinary aircraft.
Its fuselage armor can resist the radiation and shock waves generated by the explosion of nuclear weapons, and can carry out electromagnetic interference and decoy interference on incoming missiles from the outside; the electronic countermeasure system and jamming missile system equipped inside the aircraft have the function of determining the orientation of incoming missiles and destroying the missile guidance system; and more perfect detection equipment can find air targets containing a large number of threats in time, quickly notify the nearest United States and Allied forces, and provide warplane assistance or air support.
In addition to perfect all-round defense, Air Force One is also equipped with perfect electronic facilities. Including telephones, televisions, computers and other pulse frequency radio communication equipment. It is guaranteed that even in the event of a nuclear explosion, the president can command the army in a timely manner to counterattack. Ultra-long "endurance" capability - 11,000 kilometers of range, four engines. Fulfill any wish of the president where he wants to go, and if there is an emergency and it is inconvenient to land, the endurance can also meet the need for him to fly with the president for about 12 hours; if any one engine has a problem, there are three other engines to ensure that the aircraft is working properly.
The "Air Force One", which has such a complete defense, anti-missile, and endurance capability, will certainly not be a mount that mortals such as you and me can touch. Recently, the US Department of Defense revealed that the government will spend $84 million (about 600 million yuan) to purchase the flight and maintenance manual of Air Force One. Although this is only a new generation of "Air Force One" to be completed and delivered in 2024, the maintenance manual of nearly 600 million yuan can be seen.
Air Force One began with the extraordinary name given to it, carrying successive U.S. presidents in a race to change their destiny. In the course of nearly a hundred years, we have experienced various highlight moments in history, and have also witnessed the rise and fall of too many countries and the great joy and sorrow of the people. Today, the most sophisticated and destructive aircraft in the history of the United States, and even in the history of the world, still soars into the sky under the names of "unable to shoot down" and "safest aircraft".