History UsefulNotes / AirForceOne

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': The multi-part crossover episode, "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E16To18WorldsFinest World's Finest]]", has Air Force One being hijacked by a group of unnamed terrorists who plan on kidnapping the President for unspecified reasons. Fortunately, Superman arrives and stops the hijackers before anything can actually happen.

'''The Regular Plane and Chopper in Fiction'''
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The archetypal OfficialPresidentialTransport, "Air Force One" is actually the call-sign given to any US Air Force aircraft that the President of the United States currently happens to be onboard. This could range from anything from a T-38 Talon trainer jet (the President would be the back-seater... [[Film/IndependenceDay we hope]]) to [[Series/StargateSG1 an interstellar battle cruiser]]. If the Commander-in-Chief is on a civilian flight (which has happened once: Nixon, while President, rode on an ordinary United Air Lines flight to demonstrate confidence in the airline industry), it's "Executive One". "Marine One" for a Marine aircraft, "Navy One" for a naval aircraft (George W. Bush flew in a S-3B Viking to make his infamous 'Mission Accomplished' speech on USS ''Abraham Lincoln'' in 2003), etc. "Marine One" is also the name given to the President's helicopter -- we'll discuss that here. The Vice-President has "Air Force Two" and "Marine Two," "Navy Two," and "Executive Two" (used relatively often during the presidency of UsefulNotes/GeraldFord; his Veep Nelson Rockefeller was, well, [[NonIdleRich a Rockefeller]] and had his own private jet which he preferred to use).

* In ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'', one of Air Force One's engines gets struck by lightning and is saved by crashing by Superman.

* The Vice President and several officials are evacuated to Air Force One in ''Film/WhiteHouseDown''. Assuming the President to be dead, the Vice President is takes his oath of office aboard the plane. [[spoiler:The plane is then shot-down by a Minuteman missile over Ohio, killing everyone on board]].
* Air Force One and Marine One both appear in ''Film/LondonHasFallen''. However, Marine One gets more role compared to Air Force One.

* It makes a brief appearance in the first ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movie, when the Decepticon Frenzy sneaks aboard and breaks into the computers.

** Notably, the fighter jet is never referred to as "Air Force One" (although technically as an F/A-18 Hornet, it would be Navy or Marine One, but in the film the military is in such dire straits that a plane is a plane and a pilot is a pilot), using a standard squadron number ("Eagle One") instead. Makes a certain amount of sense both practically (it doesn't matter who the pilot is nearly as much as who's supposed to be flying with it) and symbolically (highlighting how the President is putting himself on the front line the same as his people).

** Notably, the fighter jet is never referred to as "Air Force One" (although technically it is), using a standard squadron number ("Eagle One") instead. Makes a certain amount of sense both practically (it doesn't matter who the pilot is nearly as much as who's supposed to be flying with it) and symbolically (highlighting how the President is putting himself on the front line the same as his people).

A bit of a historical curiosity, this Lockheed VC-140B JetStar was given its tongue-in-cheek nickname (like all Air Force jets, it was officially "Air Force One" when carrying POTUS) by Lyndon B. Johnson, who would use one to travel back and forth between San Antonio and his "Texas White House" in Fredericksburg, Texas[[note]]The 707 was entirely too big to land at Fredericksburg, and the VC-140B could easily handle the small airstrip at LBJ's ranch[[/note]]. LBJ spent enough of his time in office working out of his Texas residence[[note]]Before you think these were vacations, his ranch house was equipped with attached office space for his staff, an impressive communications suite, a commercial kitchen, and a large garage for the associated motorpool. It wasn't uncommon for the First Lady to wake up in the middle of the night to find the President holding a meeting with his Cabinet over some issue that had arisen[[/note]] that the aircraft became a regular fixture there, and is currently on display there today.

* ''Film/AirForceOne'' of course. [[spoiler: The finale includes a bit where after the President is rescued from the titular plane and taken onto another aircraft, that aircraft changes its callsign to Air Force One.]]

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', "Yankee White". In this one, it is explicitly stated that the aircraft is only referred to as Air Force One when the President is on board. Otherwise, it has some other designation.

In practice, however, since 1990 Air Force One has been one of two VC-25A aircraft operated by the 1st Airlift Squadron, 89th Airlift Wing. The VC-25A is a heavily modified military version of the Boeing 747-200B, and the current two planes have tail numbers 28000 or 29000. During transport missions where the President or Vice President is not on board, these aircraft use the callsigns "SAM 28000" and "SAM 29000" (short for Special Air Mission). When President Nixon flew back to California after announcing his resignation, the plane was known as "Air Force One," until Gerald Ford was sworn in at noon, then the pilot called air traffic control and said, "Air Force One changing call signs. Air Force One is now SAM 28000."

The archetypal OfficialPresidentialTransport. "Air Force One" is actually the call-sign given to any US Air Force aircraft that the President of the United States currently happens to be onboard. This could range from anything from a T-38 Talon trainer jet (the President would be the back-seater... [[Film/IndependenceDay we hope]]) to [[Series/StargateSG1 an interstellar battle cruiser]]. If the Commander-in-Chief is on a civilian flight (which has happened once: Nixon, while President, rode on an ordinary United Air Lines flight to demonstrate confidence in the airline industry), it's "Executive One". "Marine One" for a Marine aircraft, "Navy One" for a naval aircraft (George W. Bush flew in a S-3B Viking to make his infamous 'Mission Accomplished' speech on USS ''Abraham Lincoln'' in 2003), etc. "Marine One" is also the name given to the President's helicopter -- we'll discuss that here. The Vice-President has "Air Force Two" and "Marine Two," "Navy Two," and "Executive Two" (used relatively often during the presidency of UsefulNotes/GeraldFord; his Veep Nelson Rockefeller was, well, [[NonIdleRich a Rockefeller]] and had his own private jet which he preferred to use).

* ''Film/AirForceOne'' of course.

* The Literature/AlexRider novel ''Eagle Strike''.

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* The Vice President and several officials are evacuated to Air Force One in ''Film/{{WhiteHouseDown}}''. Assuming the President to be dead, the Vice President is takes his oath of office aboard the plane. [[spoiler:The plane is then shot-down by a Minuteman missile over Ohio by the orders of the BiggerBad, killing everyone on board]].

There are several different ones of these. Most commonly seen are the VH-3A, a version of the Navy's Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, and the VH-60N, modified from the UH-60 Blackhawk airframe. The plan was to replace these with VH-71 Kestrel choppers ([=AgustaWestland=] [=AW101s=], aka the Merlin, as used by the BritsWithBattleships), but this plan is currently canceled due to cost over-runs. In addition to the huge cost, politics was involved, as it did not look good to spend such a massive amount of money during a recession. Even with the massive cost over-runs, it appears it will actually cost more to keep the current fleet, due to the costs of maintaining and upgrading the aging fleet.

The VC-25A features medical facilities, a pharmacy and 85 telephones. The President can launch SuperiorFirepower from here. It has the capacity for 76 passengers and their cargo, but several other aircraft are needed for everyone else that goes with a President on his or her travels.

The pilots all have to have Yankee White background checks (the same one required to carry the "nuclear football", which is thought to contain the information needed for the President to launch SuperiorFirepower and the means to do it -- but not the actual codes to allow him or her to do so).