FDR's "Sacred Cow"-- Part 2: "The Flying White House"

From the National Museum of the Air Force site.

FDR's "Sacred Cow" is located here.  Back in 2013, friend Denny and I boarded it on the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination (we had also boarded the Air Force 1 plane that had taken him ti Dallas and his body back.  That was a real bit of history.

The Douglas VC-54 Skymaster, was the first purpose-built aircraft to fly  the President of the United States.  It carried the staff  transport designation "VC" designation., the aircraft was officially named "The Flying White House".  However, it became better known by its unofficial nickname "Sacred Cow," a reference  to the high security surrounding the aircraft and its special status.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane while in office.  But, it was not the "Sacred Cow."  It was a Navy -owned, but civilian-operated Boeing  314 Clipper flying boat, the Dixie Clipper, which transported the president to the Casablanca Conference.

--GreGen