Air Force One may get a red, white and blue makeover if President Trump gets his way.
The 45th commander in chief wants the next installment of the iconic aircraft to better reflect the nation than its current “luminous ultramarine” iteration, a source told Axios on Thursday.
“Trump wants to change the plane’s signature blue-and-white look that goes back 55 years, to a redesign of the presidential aircraft by President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy in the early 1960s,” the website reported. “We’re told that Trump wants a color scheme that “looks more American” and isn’t a ’Jackie Kennedy color.’”
The source, who is familiar with ongoing negotiations between the White House and Boeing, said that some Air Force officials would be reluctant to change the well-known look.
“Why would anyone want to discard an Air Force One design that evokes more than a half-century of American history?” presidential historian Michael Beschloss asked.
“Every time you see that blue trim and the words ’UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’ spelled out in that same typeface as an early version of the Declaration of Independence, it brings back JFK landing in Germany to speak at the Berlin Wall, Richard Nixon flying to China, Ronald Reagan stepping off the plane to see Gorbachev in Iceland and a thousand other scenes of Presidents in our past.”
Axios noted that the new 747s are unlikely to be in presidential service before January 2021.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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