Convair VC-131H (Air Force One)

The CONVAIR VC-131H (Air Force One), called the Convair 580 in civilian airline use, was a twin engined turboprop airliner. It was very highly thought of by its pilots and crew members. The 89th Military Airlift Wing acquired a few of them to use as an aircraft to haul Washington DC dignitaries around with the occasional flight carrying the president. It was fairly loud inside and not at all plush in its interior appointments, but it could handle airports with shorter runways where the larger jet just wouldn’t work,

The biggest Presidential use of this aircraft was to take President Lyndon Johnson to the Texas ranch. On this airplane, President Johnson had a hydraulically-operated chair that allowed him to sit higher than everybody else and with his already large size, dominate the conversations. He said that he made some of his best deals while flying in this airplane. President Richard Nixon also flew in the Convair for weekend trips to Huntington West Virginia and Ashland, Kentucky during his re-election campaign in 1972.