Flying White House: The Story of Air Force One

by J.F. TerHorst, Ralph Albertazzie

Discusses the various airplanes and crews who have transported American presidents around the world, with anecdotes about the Presidents and events connected with them.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

350 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this mentioned in Helen Thomas' book & thought it sounded different & was pleasantly surprised by how informative & readable it was. Published in 1979 so only goes into the Carter era - & little mention of that - but was a much more interesting look at presidential history than the Thomas book

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book about the history of Air Force One and its predecessors, and lots of anecdotes about events that happened on those aircraft.

Two really interesting chapters were "November 22," about Kennedy's assassination and the events that followed on Air Force One, and "Hail to the Chief," which has a lot of stories about LBJ--who, apparently, is a total ass.

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From my other review:

It's about Air Force One, up to 1979 (when it was published). It has some descriptions of the various planes used as "the President's plane," but is mostly anecdotes about things that happened on the plane. It was interesting, even though I had expected it to be more about the plane itself, and less anecdote-driven. Even still, there was enough backstory of the plane(s), then added some history of American politics that I didn't know (LBJ was an ass; Kissinger had secret missions to meet with North Vietnam officials and Chinese officials; etc).

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating tale of Air Force One the plane that carries the the President and his entourage.
From the first president to take flight up to the time the book was published. There were some secrets
revealed by those that were aboard. Henry Kissinger tells a tale or two.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this anecdotal view of the Presidential aircraft fro FDR to George HW Bush

[Missy Tiger]

This is a very good book, and I learned a lot from it! A good read.