Editing Air Force One (section)

====SAM 26000====
[[File:VC-137-1 Air Force One.jpg|thumb|upright=.90|''[[SAM 26000]]'' used for President [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]] through [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]], shown in AF2 livery]]
[[File:Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office, November 1963.jpg|thumb|upright=.90|Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] is sworn in as president aboard ''SAM 26000'' following [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy's assassination]]]]
{{main|VC-137C SAM 26000}}
Under [[John F. Kennedy]], presidential air travel entered the jet age.<ref>{{harvnb|Walsh|2003|page=60}}</ref> Although he could use the Eisenhower-era jets for trips to Canada, France, [[Austria]], and the United Kingdom, when he came into office, his primary aircraft domestically was still a prop powered [[Douglas DC-6#Surviving aircraft|Douglas VC-118A Liftmaster]].<ref>{{harvnb|terHorst|Albertazzie|1979||pages=198–200}}</ref> In October 1962, the modified long-range Boeing VC-137C Stratoliner ''[[VC-137C SAM 26000|SAM 26000]]'', featuring livery designed by Loewy would be delivered, and immediately became an important element of the Kennedy administration's brand.<ref name="SAM26000Arrival">{{harvnb|Walsh|2003|page=63}}</ref>

''SAM 26000'' was in service from 1962 to 1998, serving Presidents Kennedy to [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]]. On 22 November 1963, ''SAM 26000'' carried President Kennedy to Dallas, Texas, where it served as the backdrop as the Kennedys greeted well-wishers at Dallas's [[Dallas Love Field|Love Field]]. Later that afternoon, Kennedy was [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassinated]], and Vice President [[Lyndon Johnson]] assumed the office of president. He took the [[First inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson|oath of office]] aboard ''SAM 26000'' before departing to Washington, D.C.<ref>{{harvnb|Johnson|1971|pages=13-15}}</ref> Later, in January 1973, ''SAM 26000'' took Johnson's body home to Texas after his state funeral in Washington.<ref name="Retirement" /><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Haynes |author-link=Haynes Johnson |last2=Witcover |first2=Jules |author-link2=Jules Witcover |date=26 January 1973 |title=LBJ Buried in Beloved Texas Hills |page=A01 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

Johnson used ''SAM 26000'' to travel extensively domestically and to visit troops in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. ''SAM 26000'' served President Nixon on several groundbreaking overseas voyages, including his famous [[1972 Nixon visit to China|visit to the People's Republic of China]] in February 1972 and his trip to the [[Soviet Union]] later that year, both firsts for an American president.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=570|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212152936/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=570|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-02-12|title=Boeing VC-137C SAM 26000|work=[[National Museum of the United States Air Force]]|date=8 March 2010|accessdate=16 February 2012}}</ref> Nixon dubbed the plane the "Spirit of '76" in honor of the forthcoming bicentennial of the United States; that logo was painted on both sides of the plane's nose.<ref>{{harvnb|Dorr|2002|p=80}}</ref>