DAYTON — As Presidents Day approaches, all visitors to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force have the unique opportunity to view and walk through several truly significant aircraft.
The museum’s Presidential Gallery, located in the recently opened fourth building, is home to aircraft that carried U.S. presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt through Bill Clinton, as well as heads of state, diplomats and other dignitaries and officials on many historic journeys .
In addition, visitors will have the opportunity to interact with various Air Force One subject-matter experts near Air Force One (SAM 26000) in the Presidential Gallery on Presidents Day, Feb. 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. These former Air Force One crewmembers include a retired pilot and flight attendant, along with former maintainers and security.
Presidential aircraft featured at the museum include the VC-54C Sacred Cow, which was first used by Roosevelt in 1945. The aircraft features a one-of-a-kind, battery-powered elevator that was installed at the rear of the aircraft so that Roosevelt could board it easily while in his wheelchair. This aircraft was also the location where President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, July 26, 1947, establishing the Air Force as an independent service. The pen used by Truman to sign the act is displayed nearby.
Another popular presidential aircraft on display is the VC-118, which was the second aircraft built specifically to transport the president. A military version of the Douglas DC-6 commercial airliner, it was used by Truman from 1947 to 1953. At the suggestion of the aircraft’s pilot, Truman named it The Independence in recognition of his hometown of Independence, Missouri.
Climbing a nearby flight of stairs leads visitors through the only Lockheed VC-121E ever built, which served as President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s personal airplane from 1954 until he left office in January 1961. A military version of the famous Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation commercial airliner, its fuselage “stretched” 18 feet longer than earlier versions, and with more powerful engines, greater fuel capacity and greater speed, these aircraft became popularly known as “Super Connies.” Eisenhower named this aircraft, his third Constellation, Columbine III, after the official state flower of Colorado in honor of his wife, Mamie.
Finally, visitors can walk through one of the most important aircraft in aviation history: Air Force One (SAM 26000). Over its 36-year career, it served eight presidents: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton. However, the aircraft is most widely known for flying President John F. Kennedy to Dallas, Texas, where he was assassinated, Nov. 22, 1963. And it was on this airplane that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the new president. SAM 26000 then carried Kennedy’s body and Johnson back to Washington, D.C.
More information about these and six other Presidential Gallery aircraft on display is available at www.nationalmuseum.af.mil.
