COBI Boeing 747 Air Force One Set 26610

COBI's Boeing 747 Air Force One is a 1:144 model built from 1,087 blocks, 46 cm long with a 42 cm wingspan, with engines whose turbines rotate. The USAF markings and presidential livery are printed onto the blocks; the set contains no stickers.

Air Force One is not an aeroplane

It is a call sign. Any United States Air Force aircraft becomes Air Force One the moment the President steps aboard and stops being it the moment he steps off — the same aircraft on the same day can be Air Force One in the morning and simply SAM 28000 in the afternoon.

The convention exists because of a near-accident in 1953, when the President's aircraft and a commercial airliner were assigned confusingly similar call signs in the same airspace. A unique designation was created so that no controller could mistake one for the other. A Marine helicopter with the President aboard is Marine One by the same rule; a Navy aircraft, Navy One.

The two aircraft normally used are Boeing VC-25As, heavily modified 747-200s delivered in 1990: hardened against electromagnetic pulse, able to refuel in flight, carrying a medical suite with an operating table, and fitted with communications equipment that lets the President command American forces from the air. They are, deliberately, a mobile command post that happens to have a conference room in it.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,087 · Scale: 1:144 · No stickers
Model dimensions: 46 × 42 × 15 cm (18.1 × 16.5 × 5.9 in)