A Douglas VC-9, which flew vice presidents and US dignitaries for 35 years, touched down at Dover AFB, Del., where it will remain on permanent display at the Air Mobility Command Museum on base. Assigned to the 89th Airlift Squadron at Andrews AFB, Md., serial number 73-1682 served as “Air Force Two” ferrying vice presidents from Walter Mondale to Dick Cheney, before passing to Air Force Reserve Command’s 932nd Airlift Wing at Scott AFB, Ill., in 2005. Adapted from the DC-9, the aircraft boasts secure communications and extended-range fuel tanks. The aircraft flew its final active duty mission shuttling officials to the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.”Having a presidential fleet airplane allows us to tell the fact that we not only haul beans and bacon and bombs and supplies, we haul passengers, and in this case, America’s leaders,” Museum Director Mike Leister, told Delaware Online.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.