SAM 26000 - Kennedy's Air Force One(Video Updated Nov. 2018)

Nov. 22, 2018, marked the 55th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. SAM 26000, Kennedy's Air Force One, is on display in the museum's Presidential Gallery. He flew aboard SAM 26000 to Dallas, Texas, where he was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963 -- and it was on this airplane that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the new president. SAM 26000 then carried Kennedy's body and Johnson back to Washington, D.C.

[@Red-rl1xx]

Great video!

[@BuckeyeBrad]

Great video! Been on this plane lots of times. Being a huge JFK buff, I get lost on here.

[@nelsonmelamund1225]

Why are the doors removed?

[@ELMS]

Very good. But at 6:04 there is a clip of JFK exiting an airplane that clearly is not SAM 26000. The aircraft windows are large, rectangular and irregularly spaced. The aircraft also appears too low, and the blue stripe is wrong. If I had to guess I’d say it was a DC-6.

[@ELMS]

As well, above the blue window stripe, it doesn’t say “United States of America”.

[@wrightflyer7855]

@Lloyd Mildon: Good call. I looked this one up and discovered VC-118A S/N 53-3240 served as JFK's Air Force One until 1962, when it was replaced by SAM 26000 and is now on display at the Pima Air And Space Museum. I was born in '49 and really miss those days of big thumping radials on the ramp. They seemed almost alive, much like steam locomotives.

[@ELMS]

Wright Flyer I’m from Edmonton, Canada. Pacific Western Airlines used to fly a walk-on air shuttle (called the Chieftain Air Bus) between Edmonton and Calgary and I took it many times. They operated DC-6B’s. And you’re absolutely right. The sound of big radials was something to behold. At night if you were over the wing there would be a sheet of flame blast over the wing. And I’d be certain I was doomed. 😳😆 Nice to know I wasn’t off base about the identification and thanks for tracking that down.

[@roderickrayrutledge2740]

My uncle Jimmie flew Kennedy to Dallas that day. Seriously...

[@AF-hi1tg]

Did he ever speak of that day to you?

[@roderickrayrutledge2740]

@@AF-hi1tg Yes. Years later after he retired. None of the family knew what he did for the government until then. Jimmie was such a comedian. Even when he told us, we thought he was joking around. The most incredible part was that his copilot was his best friend from grade school from a tiny town in Oklahoma called Shattuck.