I don’t usually do book reviews. I might even say that this is not a
review. But, I have re-read Kenneth T.
Walsh’s Air force One: A History of the
Presidents and Their Planes. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it the
first time through. It begins with Franklin
Roosevelt’s securing of a Douglas Dolphin Amphibian specifically for
presidential travel. However, there are
no records showing that FDR actually flew in this craft. During World War II, Roosevelt traveled on
the Dixie Clipper, a Pan Am-crewed
Boeing 314 flying boat to the 1943 Casablanca Conference in Morocco (FDR was
the first president to fly while in office.
Theodore Roosevelt flew in a Wright Flyer in 1911, but he was no longer President by then.)
Air Force One is the FAA designation for the aircraft
bearing the President of the United States.
While most people identify that name with the big blue jet in which
modern-day presidents travel, the FAA applies the identifier to any plane where
POTUS is a passenger.
The book is full of little-known facts concerning the
configuration of the planes, their frequency (or lack of same) of use by
various presidents, the individual modifications that each president has made,
and so on. It also chronicles in brief
some of the significant journeys the plane has made.
This book plays wonderfully into my dual interests in U. S.
history and presidential biography. Good
read.
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