Air Force One

My son and I watched Air Force One land at Long Beach Airport on March 18th as President Obama arrived for a visit to Southern California.  We waited with lots of other people in a parking lot next to the runway until we saw the President’s plane appear in the distance–very exciting.  What a beautiful plane.  Did you know that  AF1 was orange during the Eisenhower years?   The beautiful blue design came later during Kennedy’s Presidency. 

The presidential call sign was established for security purposes during the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The change stemmed from a 1953 incident where an Eastern Airlines commercial flight (8610) had the same call sign as a flight the president was on (Air Force 8610). The aircraft accidentally entered the same airspace, and after the incident the unique call sign “Air Force One” was introduced for the presidential aircraft.