A project to completely restore the first US presidential plane (Air Force One), Columbine II, is underway
The plane that the President of the United States boards is called 'Air Force One' by the United States Air Force. Attempts are being made to restore the Columbine II , the first plane in American history to this call sign, from a dilapidated, scrap-like state to a perfect condition, and it has already been restored to the point where it can fly several thousand kilometers.
The First Air Force One and One Man's Quest to Save It - Atlas Obscura
America's first Air Force One, the Columbine II, was a special aircraft that was a modified 1948 Lockheed Constellation and was manufactured in 1953 during the Dwight Eisenhower administration. The name 'Columbine' was chosen after the state flower of Colorado, the home state of the First Lady, and the aircraft was painted with the word 'Columbine' and a pale blue flower logo.
The Columbine II was a four-engine propeller plane with a total length of about 30m and a wingspan of about 40m, with a capacity of about 16 people, always operated by a crew of five and two to three flight attendants, and covered with thousands of polished aluminum panels. The interior was also special, with a large mahogany desk, mid-century style leather sofas, custom-made bucket seats, and other furniture designed to allow the president and his staff to work comfortably on board. The Columbine II is the plane that established the modern form of presidential diplomacy and occupies a very important place in American aviation history.
In 2014, Karl Stoltzfus, CEO of aircraft maintenance company Dynamic Aviation, discovered Columbine II, which had been left abandoned in the open at a local airport in Arizona. Stoltzfus, an aviation history buff, had been searching for Columbine II ever since he read about it in a newspaper article at the airport.
At the time of discovery, the aluminum panels of the Columbine II had completely oxidized, the engine hoses and gaskets had corroded and shattered, and rats and birds had taken up residence inside the aircraft. It seems that there was an owner, but it was left abandoned and could not be maintained, and it was scheduled to be scrapped, but CEO Stoltzfus purchased it for about $1.5 million (about 220 million yen).
Stoltzfus formed a repair team led by the company's chief mechanic, Brian Miklos, and began restoration work in 2015. The restoration required a huge amount of work, including disassembling and reassembling all of the engines, replacing the electrical wiring, replacing the rubber hoses and gaskets throughout the aircraft, and replacing the landing gear, and it took about 8,000 hours to get the plane fit to fly.
As a result of these efforts, in 2016 Columbine II successfully flew more than 2,000 miles (about 3,200 km) from Arizona to Dynamic Aviation's headquarters in Virginia.
Stoltzfus then gathered reference photographs and blueprints, fabricated new parts and modified parts to recreate the car's original look, polished the aluminum panels with special chemicals, and restored the exterior art and lettering with original paint.
In addition, the entire interior was dismantled and rotten wood panels were replaced, the old electrical wiring was replaced with new ones, the cockpit instruments were replaced with new ones, and the engines were fitted with the latest sensors.
At the time of writing, work is still ongoing to restore the interior, with furniture and fixtures faithful to the original. According to Stoltzfus, it will take another three years and cost $12 million to complete. The completely reborn Columbine II will be open to the public at air shows and other events as a symbol of American history and values.
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