The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, is the largest independent, non-profit air and space museum in the world. It has more than 175 aircraft and spacecraft. In the museum’s outdoor pavilion is a Presidential airplane, Air Force One.
According to the Museum:
“The first presidential jet plane, a specially built Boeing 707-153, is known as SAM (Special Air Mission) 970. This aircraft, as well as any other Air Force aircraft, carried the call sign "Air Force One" when the president was aboard. Delivered in 1959 to replace President Eisenhower's Super-Constellation, the high-speed jet transport was a flying Oval Office with a modified interior and sophisticated communication equipment. Eisenhower became the first U.S. president to fly by jet on SAM 970 on August 26, 1959.”
SAM 970 is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
According to the display:
“From the moment manufacture starts, a presidential aircraft is under 24-hour guard. Workers and maintenance crews work by the ‘buddy system’—meaning no lone worker ever approaches the aircraft.”
When the airplane is designated as Air Force One, the President of the United States is on board; SAM (Special Air Missions) 970 means that an Air Force unit is operating the Presidential jet.
More Museum of Flight photo tours
Museum of Flight: World War II bombers (photo diary)
Museum of Flight: The First Fighter Plane (photo diary)
Museum of Flight: Naval aircraft (photo diary)
Museum of Flight: Outside the museum (photo diary)
Museum of Flight: Some early airplanes (photo diary)