When the most powerful man on earth leaves home to fly, either throughout the USA or abroad he takes a very special fight. "Air Force One" is the call-sign of the plane carrying the President of the United States. In fact there are two planes currently in use for long distance travel, both very heavily adapted Boeing 747-200Bs. The same planes are often used by the Vice-President, but when he (or other high-ranking US Government officials such as the Secretary of State) are aboard, the plane is designated "Air Force Two". There are also helicopters at the President's disposal, with call-sign "Marine One".

President Roosevelt was the first US President to take a plane, as far as we know. In his case he boarded a Boeing 314 Clipper flying boat to visit Casablanca in 1943, where he met Churchill. The plane was seen as a safer method of travel as German U-boats were roaming the Atlantic. A little after that a plane was specifically set aside for the American President – a C-87A Liberator called "Guess Where II" used during the later war years by President Roosevelt, though due to concerns about its safety record it was replaced by a Douglas C-54 Skymaster, the Liberator being used for other members of the White House including the First Lady. Quite what that says about the importance of the first lady we are not sure !

The C-54 was nicknamed "Sacred Cow" and used by Roosevelt, being fitted with a special hoist to get the President into the plane (Roosevelt was confined to a wheelchair as a result of polio in 1921), sleeping area and radio telephones. It was this plane that took Rooselvelt to the famous (or perhaps infamous) Yalta Conference with Stalin and Churchill in February 1945, the conference that carved up Europe after the expected end of the war.

In 1947 "Sacred Cow" was replaced, for President Truman, by a Douglas DC-6 (VC-118) named "Independence". The main cabin was reconfigured to hold 24 passengers and there were also 12 sleeping berths. When Eisenhower became President he used the "Independence" and also two Super Constellations (VC-121E) and two smaller Aero Commanders. He also added three Boeing 707 aircraft to the Presidential fleet, the first jet aircraft specifically for the President. It was during Eisenhower's tenure of the office that the plane was given the call-sign "Air Force One".

President Kennedy also used a Boeing 707 (VC-137) and, in the immediate aftermath of his assassination in Dallas (1963) Lyndon B Johnson took the oath of office to become President aboard the 707 on the flight bringing Kennedy's body back to Washington. The same plane was used for other Presidents up to Bill Clinton in 1988. On becoming President Ronald Reagan ordered the two Boeing 747 (VC-25A)aircraft still in use today. They came into service in 1990. There are no plans to replace these aircraft until 2017.

The two planes currently used by the President have registration numbers SAM (Special Air Mission) 28000 and 29000 on the tail. The earlier 7070 aircraft were designated SAM 26000 and SAM 27000. The current 747s have a seating capacity of 76 passengers and carries a crew of 26, including three pilots. The maximum take-off weight is 375 tonnes and the planes have no theoretical limit to their range, being capable of in-flight refuelling. The published range for a normal Boeing 747-200B is 6,800 nautical miles.

The interior is luxurious with the President's quarters at the front of the plane (on the lower deck), including both sleeping quarters, a gym and an office. Then come meeting rooms, a fully fitted medical facility (there are always doctors on board and it would be possible to operate on any passenger requiring emergency surgery), two galleys where meals are freshly prepared, then Secret Service accommodation and, in the back, room for other guests and, normally, certain members of the Press travelling with the President. Whilst the White House (or rather Secret Service) will not release information on the plane it is known that there are 19 televisions on board, computer terminals, fax machines, secure radio communications and about 238 miles of wiring, twice what a normal 747 would have. Much of this wiring is shielded from electromagnetic pulses associated with nuclear blasts.

The planes are equipped with anti-missile defences and advanced radar and has on-board flares and other equipment (just like a military bomber) which can deflect or hinder missile or other attacks. The upper deck is used for communications equipment as the plane becomes the flying version of the White House once the President is aboard. Despite the scene in the 1997 film "Air Force One" (with Harrison Ford and Glenn Close) where the President (played by Harrison Ford) hides in an escape pod that could be jettisoned and float safely to earth on parachutes, there is no escape pod on Air Force One.

The President also uses helicopters to move around, specifically from the White House to Andrews Air Force base in nearby Virginia to board Air Force One. As anyone who lives in Washington DC will know, when the President uses the helicopter there is not just one, but normally five, making it impossible to determine in which one he is travelling. They change place during the flight to confuse any would-be ground-based assassins. Whenever the President is aboard the helicopter becomes "Marine One" ("Marine Two" for the V-P).

President Eisenhower was the first President to use helicopters in 1957, primarily to get him to his summer house on Rhode Island – getting there by aircraft would have been too problematical. The first helicopter so used was a Sioux UH-13J but this was later updated to a more modern Sikorsky UH-34. By 1961 a Sea King VH-3A was in use and it was about then that the helicopters started landing on the south lawn of the White House. Until 1976 the Marines shared the responsibility of the Presidential helicopter with the Army but today it is just the Marines.