DAYTON — One of the highest honors and missions the Air Force carries out is to fly the sitting President and other high-ranking government officials.
In honor of Presidents Day, The National Museum of the US Air Force will host “Plane Talks” Saturday from 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
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The talks will feature Special Air Mission Presidential Transport (Boeing VC-137C SAM 2600) aircraft experts who served on this aircraft. In addition to the talks there will also be a presidential trivia game with prizes, special artifacts, model aircraft, books, and pins.
‘All of our plane talks have various elements where people hear different histories and recounts from people who experienced flight on this plane or know that history,” said Meghan Anderson, Curator, National Museum of the US Air Force.
Those visiting the gallery can walk through four different presidential planes that carried 12 different presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, many other government officials, heads of state, and diplomats.
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The gallery is located in the fourth building of the museum, and admission and parking to the museum are free.
Historical Information about the planes
Visitors to the museum can walk on the famous plane SAM 26000, which was used for 36 years and was famously used to swear Johnson after the Kennedy assassination. The plane not only carried eight presidents, Kennedy, Johson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, but it also once carried Queen Elizabeth II to the US.
The first presidential aircraft, Douglas VC-54C “Sacred Cow” was known as “The Flying White House” that famously carried Roosevelt and Truman. The plane was equipped with a wheelchair lift for Roosevelt.
Not only was Turman carried on the “Sacred Cow” but also on the Douglas VC-118 “The Independence.” The plane was named after Turman’s hometown of Independence, Missouri.
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Gulfstream Aerospace C-20B, served as a presidential plane for 20 years that carried Carter, Ford, Bush, and Clinton and was known for its small size to land in places where the larger presidential planes could not.
Known as Eisenhower’s personal plane, Lockheed VC-121E “Columbine III”, was named after the official state flower of Colorado in honor of his wife.
In addition to planes currently listed as being able to be walked through, the gallery also features the Lockheed VC-140B JetStar, which carried Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan.
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