12 Facts About SAM 26000

SAM 26000 was the first of two Boeing VC-137C United States Air Force aircraft specifically configured and maintained for use by the president of the United States.

SAM 26000 took Kennedy to Berlin in June 1963; the month before that, it set a new Washington-Moscow time record.

On November 22,1963, after landing the President and First Lady at Dallas' Love Field, SAM 26000 was the backdrop to live broadcasts of the Kennedys greeting well-wishers.

Later that day, after Kennedy's assassination made Vice President Lyndon Johnson the new president, SAM 26000 carried the Johnsons, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Kennedy's body back to Washington.

SAM 26000 was used by National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger during his secret meetings with the French to negotiate the Vietnam peace process.

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Two days later, SAM 26000 brought the former president's body from Texas to Washington, DC, for the state funeral the following day.

SAM 26000 escorted her during the state funeral, again, at her request, saying that she did not know Army Major General James Adamson, then commanding general of the Military District of Washington.

SAM 26000 was sitting at Grissom Air Reserve Base in Peru, Indiana, to serve as the backup Air Force One.

SAM 26000 was quickly dispatched to Champaign to pick up President Clinton, who then flew to La Crosse, Wisconsin, for an event and then flew the final presidential service flight from La Crosse to Washington, DC, where SAM 26000 was then officially retired from the president's fleet.

In May 1998, SAM 26000 was flown to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio.

In December 2009, SAM 26000 was taken off display and moved to the museum's restoration area, where it was repainted into its Presidential paint scheme.

SAM 26000 was later returned to the Presidential Planes Hangar at the museum.