In the beginning, Air Force One was Columbine Two. As a post-war military commander, Dwight Eisenhower crisscrossed the Atlantic in one of the few airplanes that could do it non-stop: a lithe and triple-tailed marvel built by Lockheed. The general named that plane "Columbine," in tribute to his wife and her adopted home state of Colorado.
Then Ike became the 34th President, and he ordered another aircraft of the same kind, remodeled with a private stateroom, couches, desks, a lounge, a bath. He called this plane Columbine II," but after a near-miss with a commercial airliner in 1953, air traffic controllers knew it as Air Force One. Then President Eisenhower left office, the plane was sold to a crop duster, and she seemed to disappear. Until some folks from the Smithsonian found her in the Arizona desert, and thus began a painstaking process to restore the first designated presidential aircraft, Columbine II.
About Colorado Postcards
Colorado Postcards
Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado.
