Douglas C-54C “Sacred Cow”

DOUGLAS C-54C “SACRED COW”

The first aircraft built and used for the president. Its first Presidential flight was in February 1945 to fly FDR to a conference at Yalta to meet again with Churchill and Stalin. The U.S.S. Quincy carried the President to Malta where the “Sacred Cow” took over and flew him to Yalta, then on to Cairo and back to Malta and the trip back to America aboard the U.S.S. Quincy. President Harry Truman later used the “Sacred Cow”. It was on this aircraft that the President signed legislation that formed the United States Air Force. So, the Sacred Cow was the birthplace of the United States Air Force. When this aircraft was in use, the term “Air Force One” was not yet in used to describe the Presidential aircraft.