The Columbine II was hands down the most iconic plane to bear the honor of being Air Force One, and to be honest, at least in my opinion, the Lockheed Constellation was one of the most beautiful planes ever made.
The Columbine II the first plane to use the Air Force One callsign and the only presidential aircraft ever sold to a private party. Below i will reproduce portions of the material about this lovely bird, published in LIFE Magazine (US edition) - october 12, 1953.
Lieut. Colonel William G. Draper is Air Force aide to the President and pilot of his personal plane. When he first met the Eisenhowers, back in december 1950, Mamie was afraid of planes. She was worried when she was flying with her husband, worried even more when he was flying without her. Thanks to Draper, Mamie has gotten over her fears.
The presidential plane is crowded with all the conventional air safety devices, plus a few innovations introduced by her crew. Perhaps the most important safety factor is the pilor, Bill Draper, a medium tall, handsome, sandy-haired young man with intense blue eyes and the fervent manner, when on duty, of a missionary among a host of infidels. He lives by the conviction that travel by air can be made safer than by road, and his single-minded preoccupation with the President's safety has been communicated to his crew, almost with the force of an obsession.
The Columbine is equipped with Loran, the Air Force's long-range navigational system that helps the pilot to keep a constant check on any approaching planes or obstacles within a range of 200 miles of his plane. Draper also makes constant use of the radar system to spot bad weather. He'll often detour as much as a couple of hundred miles to avoid rough flying weather and give the President a more restful ride.
Whenever the President takes off, Draper files a flight plan with civilian as well as military ground-control units and keeps in constant touch with them.
Precise scheduling, to the point of finickiness about seconds, os another precaution taken by Draper. The Columbine is off the ground exactly seven minutes after the wheels touch the ground. On landings, an engineer stands behind Draper with a stop watch and counts aloud like a technician timing a radio broadcast to tell Draper whether to speed or slow the taxiing plane.
If the President is scheduled to land some place at 12 noon the Columbine's engines will stop turning and the door will open at 12 noon as precusely and inevitably as the beep of the national time signal.
Draper figures the plane will develop mechanical troubles if it sits in the hangar, so he tries to fly the plane two or three times a week for an average of an hour a day. During those flights Draper and crew work through the book of normal and emergency procedures, simulating dead engines, shooting landings, trying instrument work. The crew goes through emergency bail-out procedure like a cracl close-order drill team. The lives of Draper and his man are not a factor in this routine. It is aimed at getting one man, the President, strapped into a parachute and out of the plane in a matter if seconds.
When the President contemplates a trip to some out-of-the-way place, Draper takes the plane out a week or so ahead and makes the full run as a simulated presidential flight. Eight enlisted men are assigned to the Columbine as guards. Five are master sergeants, one a technical sergeant and two staff sergeants.
The President keeps a comfortable old tweed jacket aboard the Columbine at all times. He rides in the 20-foot main cabin which takes up the waist of the ship. There are two specially built revolving chairs for the President and Mrs. Eisenhower. The chairs are covered in brown leather - the only exception to the gray decor. At the President's elbow are two telephones: one is an intercom for communication with the pilot and the crew, the other can be hooked into a land line as soon as the plane lands. A number of flight instruments on the wall enable the President to keep track of the plane's progress.
Across from the presidential chair is a small serving bar with a framed color photograph of the columbine blossom above it. Two lounge couches line the opposite walls at mid-cabin. At night they break down into two three-quarter-size beds. A small FM-AM radio is at the end of one of the couches.
The Columbine has two duplicate cabins forward of the President's, with seats for 16 which can be made up into berths for eight.
The chief passenger likes light meals aloft and would as soon have cold cuts as steak. But the Columbine is equipped with a galley that would delight any housewife. It is complete down to the smallest details of electric toasters and a bottle of prepared martinis in the refrigerator. The electric stove is a bit small - only two burners and an oven - but there are additional gadgets for warming soup and keeping food hot.
Since he was a kid in the tiny town of Stow Corners, Ohio, Bill Draper has believed that the only reason any sensible person wanted to live was to be able to fly. He was working for Pan American when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The U.S. took over Pan Am's new African route and simultaneously offered Draper a comission. Until the end of the war he pushed converted B-24s and C-54s across the Atlantic, Africa and India. After the war he stayed on in the Air Force. He had become chief pilot of the "brass hat" squad doing special survey missions for NATO.
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