Yesterday, at 8:50 pm the Air Force One with Barack Obama aboard arrived at the Dresden Airport. Due to dusk and rainy clouds the lighting conditions were poor and the quality of the pictures I took suffers. There were hundreds of onlookers behind the fence.



The departure today:

Accompanied by a 2nd plane (Air Force Two?)

Unfortunately I was unable to see the Cadillacs because the Secret Service fooled me and the people waiting at the Aiport by using a back door gate
I also made a short video HERE. But you can find some with better quality on youtube.

What is the current Air Force One Boeing 747? Is it a 747-300 or 747-400?
My knowledge of the airplane is limited, so I never really understood what each variant
meant (i.e. 100, 200, 300, 400)

Very cool. I saw Obama in person when he came to my town on his campaign tour.

Air Force One is the callsign used on any U.S. military aircraft carrying the President of the United States. The aircraft used is the Boeing 747-200B (the military designation for the aircraft is VC-25). The 747-400 is the current generation of the aircraft.

The second aircraft is a Boeing 757-200 (the military designation for the aircraft is VC-32). It is frequently used as Air Force Two, the callsign when transporting the Vice President of the United States. It is also used to transport the First Lady, Cabinet Members, and Members of Congress.

The military designations use the "V" prefix for aircraft used to transport very important people (VIPs). The "C" indicates it is a cargo aircraft.

I saw on television that the First Lady, Michelle Obama, and her two daughters are planning on staying in France after President Obama returns to the United States. That is probably why two "official" aircraft were used. When a member of the president's family is on board, the callsign used is Air Force One Foxtrot. If a civilian aircraft is used, the callsign is Executive One, Executive Two, Executive One Foxtrot, etc.

There's two, both 747-200Bs... except they're sort of technically VC-25As (the military designation). There's all kinds of useless information at Wikipedia*. Too bad so little of it is specifically about the plane itself, "security concerns", I guess.


*They've also got a description of all the 747 variants.


edit: that's what happens when you go get something to drink after starting a post.