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Author
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Topic: Air Force One (1962 to 2026 livery) and NASA
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 56710
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-19-2026 02:04 PM
   
White House officials this week bid farewell on social media to the model and livery of VC-25A aircraft with the call sign "Air Force One" when the President of the United States is on board. The two modified Boeing 747-200 jets (with tail numbers 29000 and 28000) that have been in service since 1990 are soon to be replaced by three 747-800s, with the first expected to enter service this summer.The two new VC-25A and one VC-25B aircraft will debut with a new red, white and blue livery. The former "steel blue," "baby blue" and white colorway was introduced in 1962. Here are few photos showing the outgoing livery in use as associated with NASA. (The 747-200 VC-25A aircraft will be retained by the Air Force as part of the executive fleet and could still serve someday again as Air Force One with the president aboard.)  Above: Air Force One at the Shuttle Landing Facility (today, Launch and Landing Facility) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in 2010. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)  Above: President Barack Obama, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, among others, disembark from Air Force One at the Kennedy Space Center in 2010. (NASA/Jack Pfaller)  Above: Air Force One flies over Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A on May 27, 2020, ahead of SpaceX's Crew Dragon Demo-2 Falcon 9 launch. (NASA/Michael Vrbanic)
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JohnSpaceUK
Member Posts: 73
From: UK
Registered: Jan 2016
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posted 06-25-2026 01:59 AM
I saw AF1 flying low over Virginia back in 2009 as I was heading south from DC - always stuck with me.Question from over the pond. Was this update always intended or is this something the current POTUS implemented?
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 56710
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-25-2026 09:33 AM
The decision to upgrade the aircraft was made in 2015, before the current administration. The original plan was to use Boeing 747-8I, but during his first term, President Trump renegotiated the contract in an effort to reduce costs and settled on two 747-8 aircraft originally built but never delivered to the Russian airline Transaero.A third 747-8 (and the first to enter service as Air Force One) was famously a gift from the royal family of Qatar. It is considered the "bridge" aircraft and will be reportedly retired once the two other jets are ready. The change of livery was Trump's initiative. |
oly
Member Posts: 1554
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 06-25-2026 10:50 PM
I wonder if the new Air Force One has the modification to install a rear ramp at the back of the aircraft so that Harrison Ford can throw people off his plane. | |
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