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.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft will be operational in the late 2020s, several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems, Air Force officials told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel. The CCAs will first be “shooters,” then electronic warfare platforms, then sensors, in that order, they added.