Castle Receives A VC-9 "Air Force One"

On October 16th, 2013, a Douglas VC-9 arrived at the Castle Airport. The aircraft, tail number 73-1681, served with the USAF 89th Airlift Wing from February 1975 to September 2005. During this period it served the administrations of Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush. Over that time the wing flew thousands of missions. The VC-9 was one of the wing's busiest airframes and flew mostly short domestic along with trips to Central, and South America. Most of the missions were considered routine and not specifically highlighted in the historical records. However, after a careful look, VC-9 #73-1681 saw occasional use by President-elect Reagan and President Clinton. Vice Presidents Mondale, George H. W. Bush, Quayle, Gore, and Cheney also used the aircraft. First Ladies Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush also flew with the aircraft. Many other dignitaries, both domestic and foreign, were also flown. (Information written by Mr. Robert Spiers, Historian, 89th Airlift Wing, Joint Base Andrews, MD)
Special thanks to UVair (Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc.) for donating the fuel for the flight, TBM Aviation for all their efforts preparing the aircraft for the ferry flight, Allegiant Airlines for providing the flight crew, and private donors. Many thanks to everyone who contributed toward this effort!
The aircraft will be joining other aircraft of the Castle Air Museum. For more information see:
castleairmuseum...
Here's a link to ABC affiliate KFSN for a news story on the arrival:
abclocal.go.com...