Wanted to take son to see AF1 land today, but Nooooo!

[$tevie]

I suppose it's a post-9/11-thing, but it is kind of disappointing that you can't even see the President's car drive by. I was accidentally walking on a street which Bush was going to be taking through Baltimore and thought, what the heck, why don't I wait here and see the caravan go by? Well, they sent cops through with bullhorns saying that we all had to leave the area and that the President's car would never go by until we were all gone. I was tempted to see if they would really follow through on that threat, but then I realized that they would "leave" me if I didn't leave myself. So I did.

[August West]

I was on the same block in San Francisco during a Bush I fundraiser. We were told anyone outside a building on the street would be arrested, and they were.

ETA: Not to make it too political, but I was also in the same room at different times with Bill Clinton, President Obama, and Hillary Clinton and all that was required was a RSVP, ID at the door, and a bomb sniffing dog in the hours beforehand. I should add that large bags were not permitted either.

[$tevie]

To be fair, being "in the same room" with someone isn't the same thing as being "on the same block". One is a controlled environment, and the other one has random people all about.

[Uncle Wig]

Here in Tucson we have a VC-118 (DC-6B) that was used by Kennedy & Johnson, the last propeller-driven airplane to be used as AF1.

[Gutenberg]

Press passes to presidential events are very hard to get these days. The White House very much prefers pool coverage. I can't say that I blame them.

Obama has been more visible on the street than W though. Both he and his wife have made public appearances in controlled situations. On his way to his inauguration he spoke in Baltimore's War Memorial Plaza, which is a pretty easy area to control. Bush tended to make his Baltimore appearances at the Convention Center and entered through the secure underground garage.

No presidential visit compared with the papal visit in 1995, though. I have never had my credentials checked so many times.

[Grace62]

I love it when Michelle Obama surprises White House tourists with an in person greeting and receiving line, as she did this week. People cry and hug her and it's really great to see - she's a genuine and warm person and people who meet her know it.

The speech the President just gave at Boeing was terrific. He highlighted the success of the partnership - company, union, community, government. Very hopeful, very positive, very forward-looking. Very well received by people at Boeing.
What is a Republican going to come here and say to these workers, who generate $26 billion in exports a year and who are responding to a 50% increase in commercial airplane orders by working their tails off?

My son was grumpy at first that I wanted him to sit through it, but once the President began to speak he was hooked.

[Uncle Wig]

cbelt3 wrote:
One amazing plane was FDR's plane "Sacred Cow". With an elevator in the back so he could get in and out in his wheelchair without anyone seeing.

I don't think the design of the elevator was to prevent FDR from being seen. It was the simplest and most practical way to lift a wheelchair into the airplane regardless of available airfield facilities. To get FDR in through the side would require an elaborate ramp, or a lot of manhandling, or an even more complicated elevator.

Douglas (the builder of the C-54) later incorporated cargo-loading elevator in the C-74 Globemaster I which was large enough to hoist vehicles into the fuselage. Much simpler than trying to shove a truck in through a side door.

Ok ok enough of my geeky airplane trivia.

[Black]

August West wrote:
but I was also in the same room at different times with Bill Clinton, President Obama, and Hillary Clinton

Too bad you couldn't be there at the same time that they were.

[graylocks]

cbelt3 wrote:

We walked the Boy Scouts through the plane where LBJ took his oath of office after JFK was shot. Wow..

on a related historical note, the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mi has the presidential limousine in which Kennedy was assassinated. It was hard to explain to my then 9 year old son why mommy was standing in front of this exhibit with tears streaming down her face.

[Ca Bob]

Just to second the remarks about the U.S. Airforce Museum in Dayton, Ohio --

This is within a few blocks of the spot where the Wright brothers essentially invented the art and science of flying an airplane. It's true that they designed and built the original Kitty Hawk plane in their bicycle shop way on the other (west) side of town, but a couple of years later they set up a flight school in a pasture over on the east side, where they worked out the techniques of flying and then set up a school where they taught people how to fly. This involved the complete circuit beginning with getting into the air, turning the plane, going up and down, and eventually (most of the time) making a safe landing. It's an incredible series of achievements. Out of their work came the entire modern era of flying, space exploration, and so much more.

The museum is on the grounds of Wright Patterson AFB. It has an absolutely amazing collection of aircraft, including the B29 that ended the second world war, recreations and originals of very early aircraft, first world war era planes, experimental planes, and a full sized B36, which is about the hugest thing you are ever going to see that doesn't float in the water. There is also an exhibit on German WWII prisoner of war camps, including artifacts created by the prisoners such as a newsletter and a hand-crafted radio receiver.

It's true that the Smithsonian has more in the way of spacecraft including those from the moon program, but Wright-Patt is way ahead on actual airplanes.