The First Air Force One Flies Again

early 2000s I was actually a corporate pilot flying a Cessna 414 for a local trailer manufacturing company and they had a business in Richfield Utah and couldn't make it all the way so we would we would stop in Santa Fe New Mexico and we'd stop to get fuel and and I saw this Connie sitting out there and knew it was or I heard that it was Columbine too and I was very intrigued not walk around and kind of in awe over it and at the time I didn't have the money to put the air in the tires and that was free just needed a compressor and then I got a phone call from my friend Carl Stouffer's and Carl called me said you know thinking about buying Columbine - and it's in Marana Arizona he acted like I mean he didn't have a clue I even knew so I actually sent in pictures I said yeah I've been out there looked at it twice have you really yeah I've been out there to look at it or you want to buy it no I'd rather you buy call I just like to have a friend that owns one I don't necessarily want to own one so we we talked a little bit and and he went into the negotiations and by gosh she bought the darn thing my name is Brian Michaelis I was the project manager on column on T the Connie the Eisenhower uses his presidential aircraft it was an amazing project to be on very thankful and grateful to be able to be part of that project probably the highlight of my career no probably - it definitely a highlight of my career I had a bunch of great people helping us working with us guys from dynamic and support from Mid America Air Museum and Tim Coons and Pete blood and just just lots of great guys helping us but just an amazing project to be part of and and I'd like to tell the story about when Carl first approached me with it and he came up and pulled up in his vehicle and showed me a magazine that was talking about the demise of Columbine - and I remember him coming up and saying you know what do you think of this and I'll kind of look through the pages I'd never really pay any attention to Connie's and that kind of stuff you know she's a big airplane and I remember I remember looking at it and saying yeah you know I think that we could take it apart here you know a little separate here you know we can haul it home and and him looking at me saying no we're gonna fly at home and it was just an amazing adventure from that point on it was just pretty incredible in and we headed out to Marana and we got out there and I first saw that airplane and my first thought was my gosh is a big airplane where do you start this thing is just huge and it was probably the end of the first week before Carl and I really talked about the airplane because we were both afraid that we would both say let's just get back into Kenya and go back home it was just an overwhelming overwhelming task but as we got more and more into it the more it seemed like okay it's just another airplane nuts and bolts and start working through the systems and that's how we approached it and it turned out to be a great airplane great project I got started with the connieyc Carl contacted me through a group of friends through Andersen Airmotive and everything and found out I was in Arizona and I was willing to help I went out there I think it was a Wednesday the first day everybody got there with Carl and Brian and the whole dynamic crew and Tim Coons with me and we did the first evaluation of the airplane that day there were a ton of people when we first got there it was it was amazing the number of people that that showed up at Columbine when we showed up to to do our first inspection then and there was a lot of pressure to run the engines a lot of pressure and Carl just kept on you know run the engines trigger on the engines and you know again we have very set things on how we do ferry aircraft how we prepare aircraft for flight and became very apparent very quickly that that was not gonna be a quick easy thing for us to do and I can still remind remember riding back to the hotel one evening in a van and Carl asked me we were gonna run engines and me telling him it's not gonna happen this time and he was very quiet for a little bit and then when I went through the list of things that we needed to do to make sure these engines would survive and would be gonna be good to go then he was in full agreement and we didn't run the engines the very first time and it was several trips after that before we actually ran the engines and the big thing was is we pulled so many components off and had them sent out like say fuel pumps just the whole nine yards really every accessory probably other than mine Eidos we sent out for overhaul so so just great likes a great prep we had every intention of making it successful and we did just that it was overwhelming because first off it was a big airplane that's been sitting for a really long time so it was hard to know where to start we kind of started looking at the motors over a little bit to see if there was even anything worth running and that first weekend I think we put fuel on and found out that that wasn't gonna work for a while we could got that fixed and then actually pressured up the engines and that was another thing that they're everything had to come off all the systems all the components fuel injection nozzles fuel injection lines master controls everything came off and went out for overhaul and then we started pulling hoses and clean of Tanks and getting engines ready that's mainly what I was as a lot of the engine guy I didn't get to touch much anything else it was almost nine months by the time we got all the components out finding people to overhaul it getting the stuff back I mean I was going down there two or three weekends a month it's been in three days with them at a time doing it field we don't we got the first thing we did is we got the you know the fuel injection nozzle is done and then the injection pumps done and then the Lions changed and it matched the controls and once we started getting everything back in it started going faster but yeah it's a lot of work it yeah it took me it took me almost two and a half days to do just injection hose nozzle one engine because it's just you got to rip everything off it goes in everything back together I said you know if you go out there we'll come help and so we we did loaded up by lockheed lodestar and loaded up with mechanics had almost every seat full and flew out there and when we got there his team was really glad to see us and because I mean our guys were very experienced radial engine guys and we got there and then we got to meet Billy Packer we got to meet Brian mickeleh and got to meet their team and had a lot of a lot of fun a lot of work a crochon actually wasn't the big issue with combine two she'd been in the desert for quite a while and it was tremendously kind to her hard parts to her to her fuselage to her airframe the worst things that we found is all the rubber all the soft stuff was shot a rings and seals and everything we went through the entire hydraulic system replaced probably 90% or better the seals in the hydraulic system every single soft line fuel hydraulic no matter what it was we changed so that was that was probably the biggest thing that that's sitting out for so long had done to us and then the hard lines the hard hydraulic lines from from sitting and not being properly preserved we were finding corrosion and so every time we pressurize something we'd find another leak and just just continue to work through the system and fixing those things and I think we made in total three trips out there and then I physically helped Carl with some of the accessory overhauls helped him with the props and so people thought that I was a financial investor in the airplane I was not we but I did did help a little bit but I didn't help nearly as much as I got credit for and Carl's a very generous man he'll give he'll give a lot of credit to people if you help a little bit every time we'd run engines we pull screens to check the health of the engines and we pulled the screens on number four and found that there was a lot of metal in it so in in in aviation terms it was making metal and that's not a good thing so we decided then rather than hurt the engine any more than what it was we would pull the engine and and we would borrow one from the time so we borrowed number two engine from Bataan and we put it on our number four along with two props that we put on three and four and it worked out really really well for us and the reason why we borrowed the props from them is because these are electric props and they are steel hollow with with rubber in the end of them and ours had actually began to separate the rubber had started separating in the end of it and it creates a swelling situation and you can't use the prop so we actually were able if we weren't able to borrow this props from a time we would have been in a world of trouble so again the cooperation between the teams was was amazing and tremendously beneficial to both groups the fuel system on Columbine it's a wet wing and with the wet wing it means that you don't have a bladder or a tank within the wing it means that the wing itself is actually the fuel system the fuel tank and and they use PRC and things like that to seal all the cracks all the possible leaking areas and over time with with it sitting empty then that PRC can dry up and crack and come away from the from the from the areas that is supposed to be sealing and create leaks so that was a huge concern for us as we were moving forward with the fuel system that the fuel pumps and stuff we had changed the hoses we had changed so we knew we were good on all that stuff the big question was going to be the first time that we put fuel in what was going to happen so that was actually a long process in putting fuel in we you know we put 50 gallons in and wait and make sure nothing's gonna run out and put another 50 gallons in a wait and see what was gonna run out and actually we only had a one tank and it was the I think it was the left end board tank they gave us any problems at all so so other than that was absolutely amazing the way the fuel system worked out for us too turned out really really well one of the toughest things in dealing with Calabar was the lack of parts there's just just no parts so your scrounge you're begging you're looking you're getting very creative you're doing whatever you have to do to get to get stuff air worthy and make it correct and make it come together so that was probably one of the biggest challenges in doing the airplane was that you know other other than that when at the end of the day again it's just a big girl with lots of pieces and you know it's just another airplane nuts-and-bolts as far as mechanically goes it's definitely not just another airplane because it's a combatant - so uh so ya know it's it was a good project amazing project people does absolutely amazing to work with and the baton guys I don't think her baton baton I don't think with without both projects going at the same time and without the cooperation and the joint fellowship and just just the way we came together the two teams to help one another out with personnel and with materials was absolutely amazing it would have been tremendously way just a lot more difficult if we wouldn't been able to help each other out and and yeah they actually they borrowed a propeller from us and they borrowed a QV C if I wall forward and when we turn around and in turn we borrowed one and two props from them so so again the cooperation between the two groups was absolutely and continue still today that's developed into a great relationship and if everybody in aviation was willing to cooperate with one another like that it would make everybody's life so much easier but yeah great great guys great guys really enjoyable man the first test like you want to talk about pins and needles and just I don't know how you can be any more nervous I mean I've got four children and and Amy please forgive me but I don't even think that I was near as nervous and just just dying inside watching Columbine taxi off and and and takeoff roll and rotating and and when she climbed down a gear came up honestly it was so much so I just I just I started crying like a baby I'm not gonna lie to you I was you know and I'm not the only one got him in that's just it was amazing I mean it was the most beautiful thing you've ever seen and oh my gosh it just yeah I mean there's no words for it was it was amazing and golly and then she just kept flying and they they I think they flew for an hour so over the airport just stayed close you know I just want to check things out and make sure things were looking good and and came back in and had a good you know good landing brakes were great and everything was great and really we had minimum squawks we had some indication issues you know in electrical issues with some indicators and whatnot but overall the first flight was amazingly successful amazingly so it was made in very short order then that that we were going to go ahead and hit for Bridgewater just based off of that flight so they progressed very very quickly after that we knew at that point in time it was going to was coming to Bridgewater Virginia so Colin I've been talking about that I seen you know car I really think that's going to be a very epic flight it's gonna be an amazing flight for that airplane and it's probably not gonna fly again I knew that once it got to bridge water Virginia it wasn't going to fly for many years because it was going to undergo a restoration so I think we need to take the b25 out and document the trip home and call what no really excited about that I really didn't care I just I just knew that I really wanted to do that I thought it would be really cool Carl's worried about how much fuel is converted someone's going to burn about a third of what you're gonna burn so our quarter so don't worry about it [Music] you know they have the airplane it was looking great they had it all ready to go we did some final help him clean up some stains and kind of put some things away more or less get ready for the trip I'm getting some dose of lying you know a minutes then it started to come reality and you could tell Italy the energy out there was it was an awesome underneath it have and it was one of those things where if you could have that kind of situation every day we just it was cool everybody everybody's excited about the trip you know everybody's you know getting ready the airplane is ready to go all everything the media is starting to show up everybody's keeping their poking her heads in it and and seeing what's going on you know all systems were working you know properly the way they were supposed to and whether what I mean whether was looking great had no issues with weather so it's you know it's the day before when everything's green light and it's it's it's getting you know it's getting pretty neat and pretty interesting at that time it's just like an old booth man I wish I could've been here when this thing flew yesterday oh my gosh it's beautiful me well oh my gosh t he got off the ground so quick it was just it was crazy yeah an Arkansas would be okay oh all right oh man I almost got you all right starting day [Music] Samuraizer [Music] [Applause] [Music] thirty forty by the governor time off there man it was about 36 sorry 38 perfect [Music] maybe we make two circles over the airport and watch from above watch columbine roll and make sure that she got wheels up and everything was in a well and got a green light from them that they're they're good to go everything's running good and we're gonna we're gonna make a turn eastbound so we made a turn well they hadn't flown in that airplane Hennis hasn't flown it and I think it was ten years there was a ferry flight ten years ago so really had flown but really nobody really knew what was gonna do and where how I was gonna match up to the b25 so we picked a speed that we thought was going to be a decent speed and actually we were we thought that we were gonna have to give everything that b25 had to keep up but the so we headed out headed out in our direction and waited for the columbine to catch up to us because of the the engines in trying to make sure that we didn't put any extra stress on the airframe and really with most photo missions you know the camera ship flies a steady he's gonna fly at this speed and then who's ever being photo is they're gonna be they're gonna maneuver around the camera ship well with this one we didn't want to do that the columbine was headed them out close in Texas it was going directly there and we were going to get whatever shots we get in that four-hour period so once Columbine get up and they got they got their everything situated and never knew was in crews then we started to maneuver the b25 around Columbine as a pilot and you know where were we sitting and we're up front to be 25 we don't really have much visibility behind us so it was really interesting with the photographer back and he was telling us how far buddy's away and we're so we're trying to slowly crank off power without seeing it's kind of like trying to drive a car blindfolded and it was like okay well they're right behind us here you know so we kept getting a little closer a little closer and we got finally got to a point where Tyson Tyson got some amazing shots object and then we maneuvered maneuvered around them Caliban flew behind the b25 for probably an hour hour and a half and we went past it was passing El Paso and we made that turnaround El Paso and it was one of those like it was telling by picked up speech he got everything you know everything the engine started for everything just smooth out and she really she picked up buck 1015 knots I believe and also she she's gonna pass us and it was one of those things where the photographer the back said they were you know they got out and I I turned around in my seat right I was in the co posse turn around we looked out the window and and you could see the nacelle it's a real I have a really cool picture of the b25 in a Cell and you're looking back over the tail and columbines just they're playing along if you guys like it good job back there right now and it's just this beautiful airplane and in the console Connie's flying a beautiful they then just have beautiful lines to them and in here's this airplane and it's creeping up on us and it was just cool I got I got some little videos that was really exciting time to watch it pass by the wing and it's like there it is [Music] [Music] [Music] but the photographs we got coming back were epic the video you took and the photographs that Tyson took we're just some of the most stunning pieces of photography I've really ever seen and it was just surreal experience to see that Connie you know we were primarily in front for a long time and they pulled up behind us and then and then there later on we swapped positions and just to see that passive thing flying through there's is quite a I can remember it like it was yesterday [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] you know I'm Scott Glover born and raised here in Mount Pleasant Texas and this is a very very historic event got some people I'd like to introduce to you but behind you most of you have read but this is the original Air Force one this is the first aircraft ever flown to be designated as Air Force One it flew for President Eisenhower in 1952 through 1954 it's a Lockheed Constellation and it's just an amazing piece of American history the other Air Force one aircraft are actually in the ownership of the United States Air Force and they're in various museums and they will say they will never fly again this one got gotten dropped by in the cracks which is a really good thing because now then we can actually get to enjoy it my very good friend and come up here Carl like introduce me you call [Applause] Carl and I have been friends since 2010 we met at an event up in Illinois with some dc-3 he's got a dc-3 just like ours he's got miss Virginia and we've got Sky King here we met there and and he just we just struck a friendship and it's it's just grown and and and here we go Carl bought this airplane it's I have no ownership many people have indicated that that's not the case this is Carl and his company dynamic aviation but mid-america flight museum we certainly support him and what we do we don't know what's going to happen but it's going to be restored and it's going to be shared with a lot of people in the in the years to come that's that's what's gonna happen but Carl how about you say a few words to my hometown folks here I told Carl we're going to even give him a really nice welcome when he landed Mount Pleasant he was expecting 20 or 30 50 here you go Carl okay thank you very much Scott up until this point in time Scott has not had a credibility problem but he sure does now cuz this isn't just a couple of people but in all practical purposes this is an American an airplane that belongs to the American public as Scott has indicated it's a very very historic aircraft one of the most historic here it'll be flown in front of the public today and so we look at it as an airplane at Scott he'll be certainly modest about it all but he's certainly helping has helped us tremendously but it's an airplane that we want to get restored to a point to where we can have it where people can take tours in it I apologize we won't be able to do that today but it's an airplane that eventually we want to have it so people could just go up rare stuff like this and see the seat the seat the exact location where President Eisenhower and Mamie Eisenhower set they actually had each had a state chair in their stateroom and they could actually turn and turn 90 degrees in the chair and talk to each other so we have a lot of a lot of ability to restore it back to its original colors and decor in the interior and doing a lot of work on the outside so so that's a little bit where we are but you know having the notion of doing this is just sort of one little part of it it takes many many many people so the dynamic crew Brian where's Brian okay Brian put your hand up and that's right all the way dynamic folks I know I put it up yeah these are the folks that spent the better part of the last year traveling back and forth from from Virginia to Marana Arizona to put the airplane back together it was not in very good condition and it flew flawlessly in here I'm gonna say that until the pilot tells me otherwise most importantly is the crew lock is right here and the other guy and they're right there but your hands are fine these are the guys who got aboard this airplane last Saturday it hadn't been flown for 20 years or about 15 years and did a very very successful test flight they got it this morning and flew a four and a half hours nonstop flight from Murata and this is the crew that did it so please give them a mix thank you as well interestingly enough walkies walkies good luck to Chrysler the pilot the captain his father owned this airplane at one time so there's kind of ongoing bit of history there now his son his son is here Brandon he's here as well and I don't know whether he knows it but we're gonna make an aviator out of him and just just it's really heartwarming to see this many folks show up and I hope you enjoy the rest of the afternoon and thank you Scott for so much that you've done to help get us to this point [Music] no it is pointing my duration Rocco well the next lay when we left in America here Mount Pleasant the rest of the ground crew myself Rocco and Kevin Nelson we had decided we were going to ride on a constellation and we didn't carry it so it was decided we convinced Carl to let us ride from Mount Pleasant to Bridgewater on the constellation and man it was amazing it was absolutely amazing it is a very big airplane but when they got to the end of the runway and they've released the brakes nothing's starting to accelerate it sets you in the seat and it was just like oh my gosh this is amazing absolutely amazing and we climbed out and she was just performing just beautifully just just an amazing airplane in and you know we were up and walking around watching what was going on and watching up front and taking lots of videos and pictures out the windows you know just enjoying watching the engines and stuff because it gave those guys an extra set of eyes also and so we just we just really enjoyed the flight home and just could just really appreciate the airplane and and you just sit there and start thinking of the history and everything that was done with the airplane and you present eisenhower and although the folks had been on an airplane and and here we were you know here we were a year later after we started this whole thing here we are actually riding it to Bridgewater and it was just amazing just absolutely to see everything he works so hard for right there we were we were in it riding home would I tell you like he's stuck it right on the numbers and and he there was absolutely no issue whatsoever he probably could have made the last turn off if he wanted to just a tremendous tremendous job and again we got turned around and taxi back and we could see that number two engine was smoking pretty bad so we knew we had a couple cylinders that were hurt on that engine on the flight coming in from Texas to Bridgewater and we had actually opened the back door and so we could wave there because there was so many people lined up and in parked everywhere we opened the back door it has so much smoke coming in the car at the end of the cabin from that engine that we actually to put the door back in but but it was still it was it didn't matter it was we knew we had a hurt engine but we had a great airplane she's actually beautiful I would I would have changed some cylinders and went anywhere in the world that you wanted to go with her and I still would today my son Tyler it still gets me when we came off the airplane it was really cool to be able to be part of the crew if he stepped off the airplane because it was cool to be here be part of it but but you know just the air the flight crew stepped off here at Bridgewater so to be part of the crew that stepped out of a airplane in Bridgewater was really really cool and when I got down to steps my youngest son Tyler he just burst into tears and he was so afraid of the landing at Bridgewater and he was so scared that we were finally there and safe it was just overwhelming for him and but but you know that's the whole impact uh my family was so proud of me it revives so proud and again you're part of history and and you don't get to do that every day you don't get to do that every day and very few people in their lifetime ever get to say hey as part of something historical so again to be part of that is just it's beyond words it's beyond words and and even though the dynamic owns the airplane you know and I've said it before it's a it's not you know dynamic has become the custodians of that airplane and it's the people's airplane is an Air Force one it was the first one the history of this there with Eisenhower makes it very very unique you know I'm surrounded by beautiful war birds and airplanes with a lot of history and I get to work on them every day but there's something about Columbine and always be special and yeah it's pretty unique you

Channel: Erik Johnston

Views: 741,529

Rating: 4.864501 out of 5

Keywords: Columbine II, Connie, Constellation, Air Force One, Original, Radial Engines, Tripple Tail, Lockheed, IKE, President, Aircraft, Airplane, Plane, Aviation, History, Historic, Airport, Runway, Takeoff, Landing, Formation, Photography, Air to Air, Videography, Flying, Restoration, B-25, Mitchell, Mid America Flight Museum, Dynamic Aviation, Scott Glover, Mt Pleasant, Texas, Marana, Arizona

Id: Je7sTk1oQMs

Length: 40min 51sec (2451 seconds)

Published: Wed May 23 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/YouTubeErikJohnston]

This was very special being a part of the team to document this event!

[u/KW_per_ft]

Great engineering restoration. Thanks for the video folks, that was special.