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Top 5 Facts: Air Force One

by · 21/10/2012

1 – Sacred Cow
The first presidential aircraft was introduced in 1945 and was a converted C-54 Skymaster. It was nicknamed the Sacred Cow and carried Roosevelt and Truman.


2 – The one and only
The ‘Air Force One’ call sign was created in 1953 after a presidential plane carrying Eisenhower entered the same airspace as a commercial airliner using the same name.

 
3 – Previous owners
Ex-US presidents also sometimes travel on Air Force One to large state occasions, such as in 1981 when Nixon, Ford and Carter all flew to Cairo, Egypt, for a funeral.

 
4 – Shooting some hoops
In March 2012 President Barack Obama invited the British Prime Minister David Cameron to fly on Air Force One to a basketball game taking place in Ohio.

 
5 – The new model
The two VC-25As currently in use by the US president are set to be replaced in 2017 with three new jetliners. These will either be Boeing 747-8s or Boeing 787 Dreamliners.