In case you havent seen the National Geographic special show on Air Force One, here are the 5 youtube clips. I thought it was pretty cool.... now I wonder if I can tweek the Tundra's xpdr to read "Air Force Two"

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5

The Ronald Reagan Presidential library in Simi Valley, CA has the old (pre-747) Air Force one on display for tours. Pretty neat, and it is indoors. BTW they had to partially dismantle and then reassemble the plane to get up winding road to library site on flatbed trucks. If in that part of the country it is worth the side trip. The most asked question (according to our tour guide) is where is the President's escape module (from movie of same name).

That is a cool documentary. What you don't see is all the other sorties that are generated everytime that airplane moves. It costs millions upon millions everytime that jet leaves the ground.

What I never knew until seeing that some time ago, was that there are TWO identical 747's with all the goodies. In case one gets a scratch I guess, and maybe to confuse the bad guys. I don't recall ever seeing both at the same time, that would be pretty cool.

Has anyone else here had their plane parked this close to Air Force One? My brother was running the show when W ran for his second term. This was a campaign stop in Columbus. He closed the airport just after I landed and I was directed to park where I was. I got to sit in the left seat too, but no cameras were allowed inside. The second plane to the left is what Laura showed up in.

I haven't been that close but I did hear Air Force One then about an hour later Air Force Two talking to Approach as they flew into Portland during the Clinton years.

edleg wrote:The Ronald Reagan Presidential library in Simi Valley, CA has the old (pre-747) Air Force one on display for tours.

They have one of the old ones.... the US Air Force Museum, in Dayton, OH has s/n 26000, which is the main one that was used. LOTS of history in that aircraft!! I taught a paint class to the restoration crew a few years ago, and we got to go through it while there..... it really hit home when I was standing with Geno (the head of the restoration dept) next to the aft door, and he informed me that where I was standing was right where Kennedy's coffin was strapped down when they transported it... Like I say, LOTS of history! They have quite a few of the original presidential aircraft in the annex there.
John

I have pictures of 26000 on the ramp in England when I was stationed there around 2000. That thing had ALOT of polished metal on it!!

I want to do some thread creep, but not too much...Patrolguy talks about his bro on SpaceShip1 with W.

Flying a glorified kite through some of the bad weather in the Southwest recently, the wife and I got lucky and were stranded near this top-secret brother.
Here's a video with him in it. I didn't know how important a Colonel was until now. I thought it was just something to do with Fried Chicken. He's a really cool guy. There's a shot of flying in it, so I'm allowed to post it on here i think. --Right before we had a bad idea to shoot up through a fast moving hole in the sky...

tcj wrote:I haven't been that close but I did hear Air Force One then about an hour later Air Force Two talking to Approach as they flew into Portland during the Clinton years.

President Clinton was floating the Snake River near Jackson, and AF1 was parked at Idaho Falls, near Aero Mark. I ended up parking almost under the wing. about 50' away, (in a normal regular parking spot). I kept waiting for ground control to redirect me but they never did. I still can't believe they let me get that close. It would never happen these days.

I took a picture of my first S-7 and it, and when I showed it to people, I'd wait a few seconds and then point at my plane and tell them "that one's mine"