An Obama staffer apparently decided the President shouldn’t be photographed with the F-22 Raptor—the fighter the Administration succeeded in killing at just 187 aircraft—during his stopover at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska in mid November and ordered the base to remove it from the hangar where the President was to speak, according to a report by The Cable, a Foreign Policy magazine blog. The Cable confirmed with Elmendorf that the White House asked the base to put an F-15 in place of the F-22, the newest fighter operated and maintained by Elmendorf airmen.
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.