|
''SAM 26000'' was the first of two Boeing VC-137C United States Air Force aircraft specifically configured and maintained for use by the President of the United States. It used the callsign Air Force One when the President was on board, ''SAM 26000'' otherwise. A VC-137C with Air Force serial number ''62-6000'', ''SAM 26000'' was a customized Boeing 707. It entered service in 1962 during the administration of John F. Kennedy and was replaced in Presidential service in 1972 but kept as a backup. The aircraft was finally retired in 1998 and is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The aircraft was built at Boeing's Renton plant at a cost of $8 million. Raymond Loewy, working with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, designed the blue and white color scheme featuring the presidential seal that is still used today. The plane served as the primary means of transportation for three presidents: Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon during his first term. In 1972, during the Nixon administration, the plane was replaced by another 707, SAM 27000, although SAM 26000 was kept as a back-up plane until 1998. ==Kennedy and Johnson== John F. Kennedy was the first president to use SAM 26000. SAM 26000 took Kennedy to Berlin ("Ich bin ein Berliner") in 1963; the month before that, it set a new Washington-Moscow time record. It was designer Raymond Loewy who, at the invitation of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, gave SAM 26000 the now-familiar ''Air Force One'' livery of blue, silver, and white. On November 22, 1963, after landing the President and First Lady at Dallas' Love Field, SAM 26000 was the backdrop to live broadcasts of the Kennedys greeting well-wishers. Later that day, after Kennedy's assassination made Vice President Lyndon Johnson the new president, SAM 26000 carried the Johnsons, Jacqueline Kennedy, and John Kennedy's body back to Washington. To accommodate the casket four seats were removed from the passenger compartment; Johnson took the Oath of Office ''(see photo)'' aboard SAM 26000 before takeoff.〔〔 As Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, 50 fighter jets flew overhead, followed by SAM 26000. Johnson was SAM 26000's most frequent flyer, logging some 1,523,000 miles during his five years as president; he once called it "my own little plane". New seats were installed, now facing rearward toward the presidential cabin, in which was installed a spacious leather chair (dubbed "the throne") and a crescent-shaped table which the president could raise and lower by means of a switch. Aides and guests sat on couches around "the throne." Johnson flew in SAM 26000 twice to Vietnam and took tours of Asia in 1968 and 1969. In 1967, Johnson went on a largely unplanned aerial odyssey, making stops in California, Hawaii, Australia, Thailand, South Vietnam, Pakistan, and Italy. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「VC-137C SAM 26000」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|