Original Air Force One, a Lockheed Constellation, saved from the boneyard

[TexasTowelie]

Columbine II, a Lockheed Constellation that was the original Air Force One, restored and flown to its display home.

Read more: http://democratsforever.freeforums.net/thread/5891/original-force-lockheed-constellation-saved

[Trailrider1951]

1. Very cool, thanks for posting this

When I was in Seattle last November visiting my son, he took me to Boeing's Museum of Flight. One of the planes on display was the second Air Force One (the first jet), used by Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. The plane is open for tourists and they let you walk through it. If you are ever in Seattle, the museum is a great place to take the family.

https://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/boeing-vc-137b-707-120sam-970-air-force-one

[TexasTowelie]

2. You're welcome.

I saw the story on my Facebook feed so I thought that others might be interested.

I don't get to travel very much, but I always wanted to visit the Pacific Northwest. If I ever get up that way I'll add the museum tour to my bucket list.

[Major Nikon]

6. Another good one is the USAF museum at Wright-Patterson AFB

They have a huge museum that has most of the aircraft that have ever been in the USAF inventory along with all sorts of other stuff, along with a separate annex which houses several of the experimental X planes along with numerous presidential aircraft.

[rickford66]

3. Nice and roomy compared to today's coach seating.

In 1969, I rode in a Navy Connie from Rhode Island to Ch Ch NZ. It took three days and seven stops. One stop was an emergency landing (engine out). Another was a weather related diversion (Ch Ch socked in). There was also an aborted takeoff on one leg. Very comfortable except for the very bumpy weather somewhere over the Pacific. Another flight I took was from Ch Ch NZ to McMurdo Antarctica. That was around 8 hours. The Navy food was boxed lunch stuff, but we did get some steaks cooked on board one time. The Navy had two Connies for Antarctic Support Activities. One crashed on landing in bad weather, Oct 1970. Probably still sitting on the ice if it hasn't melted through. No one killed. I don't know the fate of the second one.

[Lurks Often]

4. It was the first aircraft named "Air Force One" but not the first presidential aircraft

"the idea of designating specific military aircraft to transport the President arose in 1943, when officials of the United States Army Air Forces, the predecessor to the U.S. Air Force, became concerned with relying on commercial airlines to transport the President. A C-87 Liberator Express was reconfigured for use as a presidential transport; however, it was rejected by the Secret Service amid concerns over the aircraft's safety record. A C-54 Skymaster was then converted for presidential use; this aircraft, dubbed the Sacred Cow, transported President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in February 1945, and was subsequently used for another two years by President Harry S. Truman.
The "Air Force One" call sign was created after a 1953 incident during which a Lockheed Constellation named Columbine II carrying President Dwight D. Eisenhower entered the same airspace as a commercial airline flight using the same call sign."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_One

[Brother Buzz]

7. Ah, but LBJ had the first 'Air Force One-Half'

This smaller version of Air Force One, dubbed Air Force One-Half by President Johnson, allowed him to fly directly to the LBJ Ranch from Washington. LBJ traveled on a Boeing 707 for most trips when he was president, but the larger plane could not land at the ranch because the 6,300-foot asphalt airstrip was not long enough. However, a JetStar could land and taxi to within 200 yards of LBJ's Texas White House along the Pedernales River.



The JetStar was also rescued from a "boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, and is now a static exhibit at LBJ's ranch.

[awoke_in_2003]

5. Keep her flying, to hell with display

The Connie is the most beautiful airliner ever made, and that will ever be made.