Welcome to the Presidential Aircraft Hangar, which houses the world's largest collection of aircraft used by U.S. presidents. Four of these aircraft are walk-through exhibits, allowing visitors to view their restored interiors.
U.S. presidents' ability to travel great distances ever more quickly and safely has contributed to changes in the speed and scope of politics and diplomacy in recent decades. The aircraft on display here carried American presidents in their most historic travels. Franklin Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to fly while in office, traveling to Casablanca by seaplane in 1943. Later, his Sacred Cow became the first airplane specifically built for presidential use, carrying him to Yalta in the Soviet Union to meet with Allies leaders in 1945. Aboard the Sacred Cow in 1947, Harry Truman signed the document that created a separate United States Air Force. In 1955, Dwight Eisenhower traveled aboard the Columbine III to the first postwar US-USSR summit meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
Probably best known among presidential aircraft is SAM (Special Air Mission) 26000, which carried presidents from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton. This aircraft carried Kennedy on his fateful trip to Dallas in November 1963. Following Kennedy's assassination, his successor, Lyndon Johnson, took the oast of office aboard SAM 26000 in Dallas. The aircraft then carried Kennedy's body back to the nation's capitol. SAM 26000's other historic missions included carrying Richard Nixon to China on his historic 1972 diplomatic visit.
In addition to these four-engine aircraft, we display five smaller aircraft, including the first presidential helicopter. Presidents from the late 1950s through the 1980s used these aircraft for short flights within the United States.
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