- Hardcover: 156 pages
- Publisher: Motorbooks International (12 Jun 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0760310556
- ISBN-13: 978-0760310557
- Product Dimensions: 26.2 x 25.7 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 547,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.50
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Air Force One for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.50, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Climb aboard the president's office in the sky - Air Force One, the world's most recognizable airplane. This book features a detailed examination of what makes this airplane so special, including its sophisticated communications, navigation, and defensive systems. Learn about how today's 747 was built, and compare it to presidential aircraft of the past.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
At Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, outside the nation's capital, the president of the United States prepares to take a trip. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
At Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, outside the nation's capital, the president of the United States prepares to take a trip. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"Air Force One" through the years.
The worlds best known aircraft, "Air Force One", the Boeing 747 that the American President is seen entering or leaving almost daily on the worlds newschannels is not really the aircraft, but rather its radio call sign.
Respected aviation author Robert F. Dorr, with a background in the U.S. Air Force, gives the Presidents' (!) aerial transports both the tecnical and historic treatment. Back in 1956 Eisenhower's Lockheed Constellation "Columbine II" was victim of a potentially dangerous confusion of callsigns on the airways. (Not unheard of even today). That episode earned the various aircraft their special callsign. If the President flies with the other armed services it is changed to f.ex. "Marine One", the almost as famous Sikorsky Sea King helicopter from The U.S. Marine Corps flying directly to and from the White House lawn.
Many rare photos has been dug up. Both of the Presidents' aircraft and the many, often shady, aircraft and helicopters that waited in the wings in case of nuclear Armageddon. The famous "football" with the nuclear codes is also treated.
A lesser part is some fascinating glimpses of the actual "passenger" of "Air Force One". Dorr has interviewed former and present crewmembers and they are of course more reticent about the present chief executive. And the still living predecessors.
President Johnson has the record for travelling in most different types of "Air Force One". He enjoyed taking important congressmen to his ranch in Texas before crucial votings. A one-off small twin engine Beech was bought especially for internal Texan flights and was known as "Lady Bird's airplane" (by Johnson himself!). Carter in cardigan. He ordered the V for VIP removed from the VC-137 designation and the paintscheme toned down as being too ostentatious! Nixon looking out of the window with his briefcase in front of him. Nice initials on it: "RMN". But it is also wearing a very plain label - "the president". To avoid any mix-ups of the luggage?
On the front page Reagan enters "his" Boeing 707. "Rawhide" (his Secret Service codename) apparently took to precidency as a fish to water. This aircraft will be displayed in California after serving seven presidents since 1972. We follow the last flight in 2001, Reagan tragically unable to attend due to Alzheimer's.
As far as security allows there is a thorough guided tour of the present special Jumbo. Also a chilling acount of the role played by "Air Force One" on September 11'th 2001 ("Pearl Harbour II").
I bought the book for my aviation library. The tecnical content is mindboggling. In a national emergency "Air Force One" could be kept aloft for five or six days f. ex. I also got an insight into the personalities of many American presidents. As different as the rest of the worlds population. Which really is quite reassuring!
Palle J. Christensen, Søbakken 14, DK8800 Viborg, Denmark.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
As Close As We'll Get....
23 Jan 2003
Format:Hardcover
Any student of aviation or U.S. history will enjoy this flight through sixty years of presidential transport. In an attractive package crammed with beautiful portraits of the world's most-recognized airplane, author Robert Dorr turns his encyclopedic knowledge of civil and military aviation to chronicling the evolution of this American flagship of the skies. From the converted military cargo planes used by FDR during World War II, to the gleaming prop-driven Constellation favored by Ike, to the historic Boeing 707 that carried JFK in life and death, Dorr shows how these airplanes came to embody American power and prestige in their global travels. While he covers the technical details of each aircraft and shows how the President's plane evolved with civil and military aviation advances, the book also provides glimpses into presidential character. Nixon, for example, was polite but reserved on his jet, and almost never ventured up to the cockpit. LBJ treated his fleet of aircraft like flying offices, wheeling and dealing with congressmen and politicians as he corralled them into flights to their districts or to his Texas ranch. President Reagan was a favorite of his flight crews, and returned their respect with casual visits to their communications and flight stations. Jimmy Carter, uncomfortable with the imperial aura of Air Force One, removed the "V" (for VIP) prefix from its official VC-137 designation. He also exasperated his radio operators on occasion by discussing classified information "in the clear" (as was his prerogative, of course). The changes in Air Force One parallel many of the advances in air transport technology since the late 1930's, and reflect the changing role of the presidency over six decades. Air Force One has served as private jet and potential doomsday command post. Today it's a global ambassador of American power. Robert Dorr does justice to his subject with clear writing and the behind-the-scenes access that take readers inside this fascinating aircraft. His book is almost as good as a ride on the 747 that now carries President George W. Bush.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Air Force One: The Secrets
13 Sep 2002
Format:Hardcover
"Air Force One," by Robert F. Dorr has beautiful pictures, nice binding, and an attractive dust jacket.
But it's filled with facts, some current (post 9-11), some historical. The amazing thing is, it reveals the secret, secondary purpose of this aircraft. As a retired military officer, I was surprised to learn about "continuity of government" plans, C-20C war readiness plans, and the role of the president's Boeing 747 as a flying command post in time of war. The first chapter of the book deals with Air Force One on September 11, 2001.
I detected one or two minor typos in the book. The discussion about alternatives to the current 747 aircraft seemed a little strained. Still, this is a great account of what's going on today with presidential air travel and of what happened in the past.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Beautiful look at a great plane
1 Jan 2003
Format:Hardcover
There are a lot of words between these two covers, but I was especially taken by the photos --- especially those which show the special area at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, where AIR FORCE ONE, the president's plane, lives.
This is really two books in one. It's partly what's going on today, including some inner secrets. It's also partly a history of presidential air travel. The author tells what happened to AIR FORCE ONE on September 11, 2001, and he also recounts the past experiences of presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was the first to fly while in office.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
