The first Air Force One...

[PALADIN85020]

It seems the first Air Force One has been found and is in the process of being restored near Tucson, Arizona. It's a Lockheed Constellation, "Columbine II," used by President Eisenhower.

You may wonder if there was a "Columbine" that preceded this plane. Yes, there was. The first Columbine was used by Eisenhower when he was the commanding general of NATO. It resides at the Pima Air and Space Museum, just south of Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson. It's nearly identical to Columbine II. Here is a picture I took of that aircraft:

And here is a video of Columbine II, the first Air Force One. I thought you might enjoy seeing it.

John

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehwvZXVKmPU

 

[Llando88]

Very cool!!

I've been to the Hangar on base at WP AFB in Ohio that has all the presidential aircraft in it. If I recall correctly that is where SAM 26000 resides, the 707 that flew JFK home to Arlington in 1963.

I've never heard of this particular Presidential aircraft before.

Thanks for posting.

 

[Llando88]

PS I've also been to DM AFB for work in the past year. Good food there in Tucson.

 

[perrazi]

constellations are the nicest looking of any large plane. always did like the looks of them.

 

[OFT II]

constellations are the nicest looking of any large plane. always did like the looks of them.

Yup. They look like they're going 300 miles per hour while sitting still.

 

[wnwitzell]

They had the unfortunate tendency to fall out of the sky...while looking very fast!

 

[walkin jack]

That was cool! Thanks!!

 

[THE PILGRIM]

A few years I was down at Ft. Craig, which is on the Rio Grande about 120 miles South of here. They were having a big reenactment and I was in picture taking overDrive.
I hear this moan and groan to the South. I look that way, and much to my surprise there comes a Connie flying up the Rio Grande. It was flying pretty low, maybe 2,000- 3000 feet. That's the last one that I saw airborne.
I have seen the one down at the Pima Air Museum, but have not seen the other one which is located north of Tucson at The Marana Airport.

 

[GaryS]

If I remember correctly, the Constellation had engine fire problems. Which along with other factors shortened their lives as commercial airliners. Plus of course, the dawn of the jet age. It would have a longer career perhaps, except for WW II.

It flew longer as a military aircraft than as a civilian airliner.

Probably the most beautiful piston driven commercial airliner ever.

ETA: The Constellation safety record wasn't any worse than that of any other type. Most crashes were caused by pilot error, others by various mechanical failures (mostly engine fires), and a few by unexplained breakups mid air. There were a few mid air collisions with other planes, which seems to have been more common back in the 50s and 60s.

 

[george minze]

My Flight to Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego was in a plane just like that in 1956.....Then I went into shock when I was introduced to my DI's upon arrival.....I don't need to explain that experience to any former Jar Heads...I would bet the farm they remember that experience. and shock...

 

[boatme99]

My father logged many hours "boring holes in the sky" as crew chief on EC 121s, USAF version of the Connie equipped with electronic snooping gear, flying out of Otis AFB in the Mid 1950s to 1963.

Although I've never flown on one, I've been in many. Back in those days, you could take your kids out on the flight line, or into hangars anytime, with permission.

 

[boatme99]

My father logged many hours "boring holes in the sky" as crew chief on EC 121s, USAF version of the Connie equipped with electronic snooping gear, flying out of Otis AFB in the Mid 1950s to 1963.

Although I've never flown on one, I've been in many. Back in those days, you could take your kids out on the flight line, or into hangars anytime, with permission.

 

[italiansport]

I've been on that plane as it's been there for quite some time and the personnel maintain it's the 1st AF1 and was last used by Johnson.
The communication equipment on board was the major thing to get my attention as it's too primative to imagine without actually seeing it.
Jim

 

[H Richard]

I spent 17 1/2 hours in one in 1960 when shipping over to England from McGuire AFB. That was the longest flight in my life. If I remember correctly it was a contract flight and the airline was the Flying Tiger Airlines. Had to wait 3 days in Trenton NJ while they changed an engine before we left.

 

[BruceB]

At least one has escaped from there. The first jet Air Force One is at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle.

Air Force One | The Museum of Flight

Very cool!!

I've been to the Hangar on base at WP AFB in Ohio that has all the presidential aircraft in it. If I recall correctly that is where SAM 26000 resides, the 707 that flew JFK home to Arlington in 1963.

I've never heard of this particular Presidential aircraft before.

Thanks for posting.

 

[shouldazagged]

Unless my eyes deceive me, Columbine II is a Super Connie.

No matter, it's a beautiful and historically important aircraft.

In 1964, when Johnson was running for a term in his own right, I was standing by with a tape recorder when what was then Air Force One--if it wasn't the one that returned Kennedy's body from Dallas a few months before it was the exact duplicate they always used--pulled up and the ramp was wheeled out. To say the sight of that 707 gave me a shiver would be severe understatement. I was on the press line that began at the foot of the ramp. I was awed by the plane, and how really ugly Johnson was up close.

 

[sceva]

I thought Columbine was in the Air Force Museum in Riverside, Ohio (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) but it's the Columbine III

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=568

They also have the Sacred Cow (FDR) and the Independence (Truman) as well as SAM 2600 the first Jet Air Force One

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/exhibits/presidential/index.asp

 

[Llando88]

At least one has escaped from there. The first jet Air Force One is at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle.

Air Force One | The Museum of Flight

Interesting. I was referring to SAM 62 6000, which I saw in Dayton in 2012:

 

[THE PILGRIM]

BruceB is correct. The VC-135B at Boeing Seattle is the original jet Air Force One. Tail number 58-6970.
Take a look at the picture of 62-6000 at Wright Pat. It clearly says VC -137C. That's a later model 707 airframe than the B model Seattle bird.
The lead numbers 62 mean construction of this bird was started in 1962. The Seattle bird is a 1958 build.
There is one more significant Connie in Arizona. It's up at the Valle Airport N of Flagstaff going up to the Grand Canyon. It was used by Douglas MacArthur , among others.

 

[shaggist]

The 'triple tail' Super G Connie was/is one of the most beautiful airplanes ever to grace the airways. My first airplane flight was aboard one from Raleigh, NC, to Atlanta, GA, in 1960 with Eastern Airlines. It remains vivid in my memories today. Thanks for posting the information about it.