You Probably Didn't Know This About the Air Force One

[Music] air force one is so powerful it can withstand a nuclear explosion on the ground but there's an even tougher plane than air force one and it's intended to be used during full-on nuclear war we'll tell you all about it but first let's cover the basics air force one is the presidential airplane it's the plane you see the president of the united states flying in whenever he and the presidential staff need to travel abroad the current air force one has flown five presidents and the first time this particular plane that's still being used took its first flight with president bush in 1990 and 91 since then all of the presidents that have succeeded him have flown inside this air force one now some of you might be wondering what kind of aircraft is air force one and to put it simply air force one is a boeing 747 but bear in mind this is the military version of this aircraft it's actually called a boeing vc-25 and there have been only two of these planes ever built in the history of the world that means that no one can go to boeing and ask them to build an air force one that's how it works they're one of a kind planes reserved specifically for the president of the u.s now if the name is a little confusing let us clarify the term air force one is just an air traffic control sign that means any plane carrying the president of the united states will bear the same name if current president joe biden were to get on board a cessna 150 from the 60s then that plane would be called air force one that is an extreme example the only reason we've used it is to illustrate our point since we talked about the 1960s surely other planes were used to transport former u.s presidents right of course teddy roosevelt was the first president of the united states to fly on board an aircraft understandably back then there were no designation signs why because this happened seven years after the first aircraft was invented after that president franklin d roosevelt flew on board a boeing 314 clipper back in january of 1943 for a conference in morocco during the second world war in reality the first time someone used the term air force one was back in 1953 when president eisenhower flew on board the columbine 2 an aircraft built by lockheed martin it took the government of the us about nine years to smash that like button just like you should if you haven't done so already but no in all seriousness it took them nine years to build the first ever presidential jet it was a boeing 707 that president john f kennedy got to fly on everything about the plane was supposed to signal power and prestige and interestingly enough first lady jackie kennedy got to choose the colors on the outside of the aircraft that are still used to this day the reason she went with blue is because a that's her favorite color and b that's the color of the presidential seal even though the official designation of the plane was vc vc-137c everyone around the world called it air force one with the tail number of 26 000. speaking of tail numbers the two planes currently used in service have tail numbers 28 000 and 29 000 respectively you might be wondering why the president needs two planes isn't one enough it's more than enough in fact this plane is so luxurious that some people have called it the flying fortress still if there was only one air force one flying in the sky it would put the president of the united states in grave danger because he's considered one of the most powerful people on planet earth the secret service has to protect him at all times this is why when air force one takes off with the president on board so does the second plane next through a complex sky maneuver the planes shuffle and confuse observers this way no one really knows which plane the president of the united states is flying in but wait a second wouldn't this double the flying costs that's right every hour the plane is in the air it costs u.s taxpayers exactly 206 337 dollars this is 10 times higher than the cost per flight hour of a regular boeing 747. the reason it's so expensive is not the fuel it's the flight consumables the depot level repairables the aircraft overhaul the engine overhaul the salaries of the crew etc so how many times do presidents fly internationally well from the available data we know that donald trump made 19 international flights to 24 countries during his four-year term president obama made 52 trips to 58 countries but that was in the span of two terms george w bush made 48 trips to 73 countries and bill clinton made 54 trips to 72 countries so in short billions of dollars are spent every year for the safety of the president speaking of safety there's this plane called the doomsday plane that's the one we talked about in the intro it's an aircraft used as an airborne command post that's deployed in the event of a nuclear war in case a conflict with some of the global superpowers of the world erupts the president of the united states along with the secretary of defense will board that aircraft and they will use it as a flying war room they're equipped with dozens of military analysts strategists provide direct communication to the white house so the president could give out orders from the sky it's said that air force one has outfitted a boeing 747-200b for this purpose however the project is top secret and the us air force rarely mentions owning one if you're wondering about the safety of the president inside a 30 year old airplane you'd be right to worry it's an old plane the replacement program began with president barack obama but it was donald trump that got to sign the deal for the new plane he even publicly stated that the 4 billion program is an outrageous cost then he openly claimed that he was planning on reducing that price tag but instead of 4 billion the replacement is going to cost 4.2 billion recently business inside said that the new air force ones will cost 5.3 billion but hey at least they'll get a new paint job and since we're on the subject of price we should tell you that the old planes cost 3.2 billion so what was included in the price tag well for starters the plane is three stories high with 4 000 square feet of floor space all of which is covered with carpet that has little presidential stars on it on the highest floor is the presidential office this is also referred to as the oval office in the sky if you've watched house of cards then you know what we're talking about from this comfortable position the president of the u.s can give orders and communicate directly to the white house all of the incoming and outgoing calls are encrypted which means no one can intercept and trace the calls in addition to this right next to the oval office is the communication room to connect all of the intricate parts of the plane there is 240 miles or 390 kilometers of wiring inside the plane all of which is heavily shielded from electromagnetic interference on the second or the main floor right to the left of the executive entrance are the medical facilities that's right the president of the united states has a doctor on board the aircraft with all of the medical supplies necessary there's a defibrillator and blood supplies with the president's blood on board more to the left is where the presidential suite is located it's outfitted with a dressing room a shower and a small bed if we go back to the executive entrance and start moving to the right we'll be inside the senior staff meeting room this is a conference room where the president and the team hold the meetings next to that you have the dining room and the small galley about 2 000 meals are pre-cooked vacuum sealed and transported on the aircraft later chefs cook the food and deliver it to the president on elegant tableware none of those cheap plastic airline plates right next to that we have the staff quarters and this is where they spend the majority of the time there are 85 telephones 19 tv sets and fax machines behind that is where the security is seated and way in the back is where you find the offices and press headquarters in total the plane can seat 70 people the president never travels alone there have to be advisors secret service officers and also the traveling press that's a group of journalists that are present on the flight wherever the president goes of course we've saved the best for last the entire plane is armor-plated and can withstand a nuclear blast from the ground furthermore it has a mid-air refueling probe which means the aircraft can stay in the air indefinitely so long as there are adequate fuel supplies the windows are made from armored glass and are bulletproof and hermetically sealed meaning that a chemical attack will not harm the passengers inside if someone were to ever decide to take down air force one with ground to air missiles then pilots will deploy the flares that will deflect and confuse all enemy missiles even finding the aircraft is particularly difficult because it has ecm defense this will further mislead incoming missiles and jam enemy radars the mirror ball defenses are hidden in the wings and there is also an infrared guidance system finally we should tell you that there is something called presidential m ms they are wrapped in a special box with the presidential seal and they are all colored in either red white or blue the first time they were introduced was in 1988 in order to replace cigarettes bye for now you

Channel: Beyond Facts

Views: 4,171,653

Keywords: air force one, air force one documentary, air force one facts you didn’t know, air force one inside, air force one takeoff, aircraft, airforce one, airplane, airplanes, aviation, beyond facts, beyond facts planes, boeing, boeing 747, facts, features, marine one, military, missile defense, new, plane, president trump, presidential, presidential plane, secret service, top 10, top10, trump, us air force, us military, viral, white house, you probably didn't know this about the air force one

Id: k3EQNIa84F4

Length: 9min 39sec (579 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 18 2022