Summary

  • When the President flies, intricate planning ensures a smooth trip, including protective, advanced coordination.
  • A C-17 Globemaster flies ahead of Air Force One, carrying vehicles for Secret Service and a limousine.
  • An E-4 Doomsday plane supports Air Force One, acting as a mobile command center and nuclear bunker.

Whenever the President of the United States needs to fly somewhere, he almost always does so aboard one of two customized Boeing 747-200Bs. To ensure that everything runs smoothly, an elaborate affair of hours of planning and coordination goes into each trip.

A Boeing VC-25 as it lands.

Photo: USAF

WhileAir Force One(or rather, the VC-25) carries the President, his staff, and some White House reporters, an aircraft assigned to the mission precedes the President’s plane. This aircraft used to transport the President’s limousine and cars used by the Secret Service is the United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster.

About the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III

TheMcDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster IIIis a heavy-lift transport plane based on the McDonnell Douglas YC-15, a four-engine short takeoff and landing (STOL) tactical transport designed to replace the Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Ultimately, the YC-15 never made it past the prototype phase, but McDonnell Douglas used it as a springboard for the much larger McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17.

Related

The History Of The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Over The Years

A look at how the massive military airlift plane came to be.

Designed in the 1970s to replace the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter and some of the duties of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 made its maiden flight on September 15th, 1991. The C-17 formally entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) on January 17th, 1995. Following McDonnell Douglas’s merger with Boeing in 1997, production of the C-17 continued for the next two decades at the company’s Long Beach, California facility. Between 1991 and 2015, 279 examples of the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 were manufactured.

A C-17 Globemaster III preparing to land.

Photo: USAF

The USAF typically used the C-17 for tactical strategic missions transporting troops and cargo worldwide. Additional duties performed by the C-17 include air drops, medical evacuations, and providing relief supplies following natural disasters.

Specifications and general characteristics of the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17

Crew

Two pilots and one loadmaster

Cargo

18 463L master pallets or a mix of palletized cargo and vehicles. 102 paratroopers or 134 troops

Length

174 feet

Wingspan

169 feet

Height

55 feet 1 inch

Wing area

3,800 square feet

Empty weight

282,500 lbs

Maximum takeoff weight

585,000 lbs

Fuel capacity

35,546 US gallons

Powerplant

4 × Pratt & Whitney PW2000 turbofan engines

Performance

Cruise speed

520 mph

Range

2,780 miles

Ferry range

7,110 miles

Service ceiling

45,000 feet

Takeoff distance at max weight

8,200 feet

Landing distance

3,500 feet

The Doomsday plane

The second aircraft that shadows Air Force One wherever it goes is a specially fitted-out Boeing E-4, which serves as a nuclear bunker and command and control center. Built for the National Emergency Airborne Command Post (NEACP) program during the Cold War, the Boeing E-4 is a specially modified Boeing 747-200B.

The Boeing E-4B on an airport apron.

Photo: John | Flickr

The USAF has four Boeing E-4s, which it operates from Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska. When the planes first entered service with the USAF in 1974, they were kept at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, a short four-minute helicopter ride from the White House. While convenient for the President to get to in the event of a crisis, the “Doomsday” planes, as they were nicknamed, were moved to Offutt Air Force Base, where they would be safer from a surprise attack.

At least one Boeing E-4 is fully crewed and ready to go 24/7 at a moment’s notice, with relief crews standing by at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio.

General characteristics and specifications of the Boeing E-4

Crew

Four

Capacity

108 passengers

Length

231 feet 4 inches

Wingspan

195 feet 8 inches

Height

63 feet 5 inches

Wing area

5,500 square feet

MTOW

833,000 lbs

Powerplant

4 × General Electric F103 turbofan engines

Performance

Cruise speed

566 mph

Maximum speed

602 mph

Endurance

12 hours without refueling

Endurance with aerial refueling

150 hours plus

Service ceiling

45,000 feet

Wing loading

150lbs per square foot

About Air Force One

The decision to have a particular aircraft for the President’s use came about during the Second World War when Franklin D. Roosevelt needed to fly to Yalta in Crimea to meet with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in 1945. The purpose of the meeting was to decide what to do with Europe once Germany was defeated.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Douglas C-54 Skymaster aircraft on an airport apron.

The aircraft chosen for Presidential duty was a four-engine Douglas C-54 Skymaster. Following the Yalta Conference, President Harry S. Truman used the aircraft for another two years. A Lockheed Constellation replaced the C-54, and the call sign Air Force was eventually born. As the story goes, it was assigned to an aircraft in 1953 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower entered airspace while onboard a commercial airliner initially operating under the same call sign.

Towards the end of President Eisenhower’s second term in office, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles told Eisenhower that his Soviet counterpart Nikita Khrushchev had begun using a turboprop-powered Tupolev Tu-114 for his travels. The Soviet’s use of a turboprop paved the way for the Boeing 707 to become Air Force One.

Related

How Much Operational Disruption Can An Air Force One Visit Cause?

When Air Force One comes to town, don’t rely on the airline schedule! Here’s an attempt to explain why.

Air Force One revied its distinctive white and blue livery after President John F. Kennedy took office in 1961. At the time, the aircraft resembled other military planes, and Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline, suggested they seek the advice of French-born American industrial designer Raymond Loewy.

Using the Caslon typeface from the first printed copy of the Declaration of Independence for the words United States of America, Lowey suggested two shades of blue be painted on the lower fuselage to represent the county’s past and its future role. Two large presidential seals and the flag of the United States were later added, giving the planer the distinctive livery it still has today.

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