Aero Commander U-4B by Stan Stokes

AERO COMMANDER U-4B

The smallest Air Force One ever used, the need arose for an aircraft like the Aero Commander when President Eisenhower started to use his Gettysburg farm during his presidency. Gettysburg had only a small grass airstrip that the Constellations could not use. After Eisenhower suffered a heart attack and had started to recover at the Gettysburg farm, the Aero Commander became indispensable flying the President from there to D.C. and back. On one occasion, it carried Eisenhower and West German Chancellor Conrad Adenauer to D.C., two heads of state, in one little airplane! As with the rest of the Presidential aircraft, it was called “Air Force One” whenever the President was on board. After Eisenhower left office, the little airplane was moved around within the United States Air Force and even did duty at the Air Force Academy as a jump plane for their skydiving team. It now resides at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.