Air Force One

Based on a screenplay written by Andrew W. Marlowe.

New in Paperback! In the 1940s, FDR was the first airborne president, flying several times in a C-54 nicknamed the "Sacred Cow." In the 1950s, it was aircraft known as "Independence", "Columbine II" and "Columbine III" that transported Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower on occasion. But it was not until after the Korean War, with the United States becoming the leader of the free world, that presidential air travel entered the modern age. The jet-age mobility of the American presidency beginning in the 1960s corresponds directly to the nation's emergence as a super power. Air Force One: The Aircraft that Shaped the Modern Presidency is the story of the planes, the Presidents, their staff and, their many trips across the nation and around the globe. But it's also more than that, it is a vehicle for better understanding the activities and dealings of each presidential administration in the second half of the twentieth century. Through vibrant photography, this book communicates the story of a unique set of planes and the presidents who made them a vital national asset. Now all of these planes and their famous passengers have been captured. Written by Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum curator Von Hardesty and featuring over 200 illustrations, including new photos of the airplane's interiors, this book takes you on a memorable flight through history. Through insider accounts and from a unique vantage point on well-known political events, Hardesty shows how the presidency was transformed by the remarkable advances in aviation technology.

This book features a detailed examination of the world's most recognizable airplane, from the interior to the exterior, and everything in between. Air Force One also details the history of presidential aircraft, how today's AFI was built, and an examination of its sophisticated communications, navigation, and defensive systems.

Featuring over sixty years of noted presidential travel through the air, Air Force One features never-before-seen photography and updates the story through 2017.

Someone wants revenge, and the target is the President’s plane. When the mission looks impossible, the world calls upon UNACO.

The presidential plane wasn’t always known as Air Force One. FDR traveled in the Guess Where II, a transport version of the heavy bomber four-engine Liberator. Later presidential aircraft included the Dixie Clipper and Sacred Cow (FDR), Independence (Truman), Columbine I and II (Eisenhower), followed by Air Force One. For the last sixty years Air Force One has seen every president and first lady through each administration's triumphs and tragedies, and has flown over a million miles around the globe. On the 65th anniversary of the most famous plane in the world, and featuring new and unseen photography of the presidential aircraft, aviation expert and author Nicholas A. Veronico brings Robert F. Dorr's classic story of the mighty aircraft up to date, detailing how the plane has adapted to the digital age, and what to look forward to as Boeing updates the aircraft once more for 2024. Get ready to fly!

A “delightful, honest, and entertaining” memoir by an Air Force One pilot and member of Lyndon Johnson’s inner circle (Bill Moyers). When Lyndon Baines Johnson wanted to go somewhere, there was no stopping him. This dynamic president called for Air Force One as others summon a taxi—at a moment’s notice—whatever the hour or the weather. And the man who made sure that LBJ got his ride was General James U. Cross, the president’s hand-picked pilot, top military assistant, and personal confidant. In this book, he goes on the record for the first time, creating a fascinating, behind-the-scenes portrait of America’s complex, often contradictory, always larger-than-life thirty-sixth president. In addition to piloting Air Force One around the globe, he served the president in multiple capacities, including directing the Military Office in the White House; managing a secret two-million-dollar presidential emergency fund; supervising the presidential retreat at Camp David, the president’s entire transportation fleet, and the presidential bomb shelters; running the White House Mess; hiring White House social aides, including the president’s future son-in-law, Charles Robb; and writing condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed in Vietnam. This wide-ranging, around-the-clock access to President Johnson allowed Cross to witness events and share moments that add color and depth to our understanding of one of America’s most demanding and unpredictable presidents.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “This is history at its most immediate and moving…A marvelous and memorable book.” —Jon Meacham “Remarkable…A priceless civic gift…On page after page, a reader will encounter words that startle, or make him angry, or heartbroken.” —The Wall Street Journal “Visceral...I repeatedly cried…This book captures the emotions and unspooling horror of the day.” —NPR “Had me turning each page with my heart in my throat…There’s been a lot written about 9/11, but nothing like this. I urge you to read it.” —Katie Couric The first comprehensive oral history of September 11, 2001—a panoramic narrative woven from the voices of Americans on the front lines of an unprecedented national trauma. Over the past eighteen years, monumental literature has been published about 9/11, from Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower, which traced the rise of al-Qaeda, to The 9/11 Commission Report, the government’s definitive factual retrospective of the attacks. But one perspective has been missing up to this point—a 360-degree account of the day told through the voices of the people who experienced it. Now, in The Only Plane in the Sky, award-winning journalist and bestselling historian Garrett Graff tells the story of the day as it was lived—in the words of those who lived it. Drawing on never-before-published transcripts, recently declassified documents, original interviews, and oral histories from nearly five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends, and family members, Graff paints the most vivid and human portrait of the September 11 attacks yet. Beginning in the predawn hours of airports in the Northeast, we meet the ticket agents who unknowingly usher terrorists onto their flights, and the flight attendants inside the hijacked planes. In New York City, first responders confront a scene of unimaginable horror at the Twin Towers. From a secret bunker underneath the White House, officials watch for incoming planes on radar. Aboard the small number of unarmed fighter jets in the air, pilots make a pact to fly into a hijacked airliner if necessary to bring it down. In the skies above Pennsylvania, civilians aboard United Flight 93 make the ultimate sacrifice in their place. Then, as the day moves forward and flights are grounded nationwide, Air Force One circles the country alone, its passengers isolated and afraid. More than simply a collection of eyewitness testimonies, The Only Plane in the Sky is the historic narrative of how ordinary people grappled with extraordinary events in real time: the father and son working in the North Tower, caught on different ends of the impact zone; the firefighter searching for his wife who works at the World Trade Center; the operator of in-flight telephone calls who promises to share a passenger’s last words with his family; the beloved FDNY chaplain who bravely performs last rites for the dying, losing his own life when the Towers collapse; and the generals at the Pentagon who break down and weep when they are barred from rushing into the burning building to try to rescue their colleagues. At once a powerful tribute to the courage of everyday Americans and an essential addition to the literature of 9/11, The Only Plane in the Sky weaves together the unforgettable personal experiences of the men and women who found themselves caught at the center of an unprecedented human drama. The result is a unique, profound, and searing exploration of humanity on a day that changed the course of history, and all of our lives.

What kind of man sacrifices his country for his family?But, what kind of man sacrifices his family for his country?President Nathaniel "Dutch" McAdams and his family are swept away on Air Force One when a Black Swan event cripples the rattled American economy. Meant to be a safe-haven, he soon finds the violence in the air just as savage as the chaos on the ground. Dutch is running out of time, and he must choose between his own child or the fate of millions of Americans; most of whom are woefully unprepared and running blind in mass hysteria.The Last Air Force One is a post-apocalyptic political thriller and a companion to Black Autumn. Can be read in any order.