In 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt flew a Boeing 314 Dixie Clipper to the Casablanca Conference, becoming the first US president to travel by air while in office. The first official presidential aircraft was a reconfigured Douglas C-54 Skymaster called the Sacred Cow, which had an elevator for Roosevelt’s wheelchair. Other presidents, including Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, also used customized planes for official travel. John F. Kennedy took his first flight in Air Force One’s blue-and-white Boeing 707 in 1962.
In January 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first US president to travel by air while in office. Roosevelt flew a Boeing 314 Dixie Clipper en route to the Casablanca Conference in Morocco. The three-leg voyage aboard the Dixie Clipper covered 5,500 miles (8,851 km) and was preferable to the sea voyage at the time, given the vast threat from German submarines. However, the first official presidential aircraft was a reconfigured Douglas C-54 Skymaster, nicknamed the sacred cow. The plane was equipped with an elevator to lift Roosevelt and his wheelchair into the plane.
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The Sacred Cow was used by President Roosevelt only once before his death, a trip to the famous Yalta Conference in February 1945.
President Harry Truman has also used the sacred cow for official travel. He even signed the law that established the US Air Force as a distinct military branch while aboard in 1947. Truman also traveled in a customized Douglas DC-6 nicknamed the Independence.
In 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first US president to operate a jet aircraft, and in 1962, John F. Kennedy took his maiden flight in a Boeing 707 in Air Force One’s signature blue-and-white color scheme.
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