The President’s Secret Air Force

The President’s Secret Air Force

Everyday you learn something new. And here's my daily dose to share.

Along with Air Force One. There's a fleet of aircraft that flies along with AF1. These aircraft bring in the motorcade, pilots, drivers and secret service agents to support any Presidential visit.

Also the article goes on to talk about planes that, in case of nuclear war, will keep the President in command of the military.

It's a very interesting article. And dishes out some history.

A good read for those of you that might not of known this before.

And then there’s a whole other fleet that the Air Force tries to keep out of sight. Ever since the 1960s, the United States has been building and equipping a special set of planes whose sole purpose has been to evacuate the president in the event of a nuclear war and allow him to command a war from wherever he may be.

The airplanes, while not technically secret, are rarely mentioned—the Air Force does not even publicly acknowledge owning some of them—even though they’re always at the president’s beck and call. Through interviews, declassified records and a careful review of Air Force manuals and other historical documents, though, it’s possible to piece together a window into this secret fleet. As it turns out, the biggest secret surrounding the fleet isn’t the planes themselves—it’s where the planes are supposed to land after scooping up the president, an answer that lies in a key friendship of First Lady Jackie Kennedy.

The ones that they don't acknowledge owning are the ones that they usually use to fly people like SecState and SecDef, or high ranking military officials to countries that we don't formally have relations with, or that are on less than friendly terms with us. They're usually not used in the presidential fleet. They still base them at Andrews and go through military bases, but they usually only have the tail number on them, and that down near where a normal civilian aircraft would have the registration number.

All the presidential aircraft have the standard USAF markings on them. At least they did when they'd come through when we were at Hickam. It used to be 3-4 C-5s from Dover, although they had transitioned to C-17s before I left Hawaii, with the limo and helicopters, the E-4B would go to Barbers Point, although stupidly a few times they brought a C-20B instead, and parked it at the HiANG parking area, which was at Hickam, but away from where Air Force One parked.

All three C-20Cs are now in AMARG, and have been for the last several years.

First hand account.

Many years ago, working a second job at an FBO.

I got to see this first hand.

Absolutely True Story.

One time, out west an aircraft carrying motorcade vehicles and Secret Service agents for Bill Clinton flipped over and crashed (on landing, IIRC) and Secret Service agents were killed.
Correction:
It was just one Secret Service agent that was killed... along with Air Force crew.
Correction #2:
Crashed after takeoff.... flew into a mountain.

a reply to: butcherguy

I forgot about that one. Dyess C-130 flew into a mountain near Jackson Hole.

a reply to: grey580
Very cool! S&F! Thank you for posting this.

I live in West Virginia, and I live about 45 minutes from the Greenbrier where they have the old government bunker. They say that nothing else is there but I beg to differ.

Take a quick look at Raleigh Country Airport. Now imagine watching Air Force One do touch down test landings. They have been doing them for over the past year. When they come in they will radio our Health Net pilots and they are grounded. No one here has the power to ground all of our medical helicopters. Something is going on that they are planning for. Beckley is a small airport. Let's just say when Air Force One is there, there isn't room for anything else!

a reply to: butcherguy
What story was Bill putting a stop to at that time?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: butcherguy

I forgot about that one. Dyess C-130 flew into a mountain near Jackson Hole.

Jackson Holes is not fun to get in and out of with a small plane....

a reply to: Martin75

One of the VC-25s just came out of PDM. They've been seen at a number of unusual locations in the last couple months.

a reply to: GuidedKill

We catch the Wyoming C-130s flying around that area. I can imagine if you're not familiar with it, it's not a pretty flight.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Hey Zap! So are we just seeing different activity because they are now planning differently?

This is such a small airport that it really blew me away. And I know that our Medics pilots are getting their panties in a bunch because usually they rule the skies here. They are used to being grounded.

a reply to: Martin75

They do tests at the Depot after they're done, then they get back to the unit, where they go over them and run their own tests. They have to make sure that all the systems work, including their ability to get into smaller airports.

originally posted by: Martin75
a reply to: butcherguy
What story was Bill putting a stop to at that time?

It is included in the list of former Clinton associates that achieved room temperature at a less than advanced age.