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Bush in Baghdad: Air Force One

Aired November 28, 2003 - 13:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The star of yesterday's presidential blitz into Baghdad was undoubtedly the president, but his costar was the plane he flew in on. If it hadn't already, Air Force One earned its stripes and secured its reputation for drama, daring, even intrigue. Few people know it's inner working, but Von Hardesty is one of them. He's the curator at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington for that particular department, and he wrote the book, literally, on the president's aircraft, It's called "Air Force One."
It's in bookstores right now.

Von, good to have you with us.

Who was the first president to fly on, I guess, what would be tantamount to an Air Force One?

VON HARDESTY, AUTHOR, "AIR FORCE ONE": It would be Franklin Roosevelt, who flew on a Boeing 314 flying boat across the south Atlantic on the Dixie Clipper, it was called, in 1943 for the Casablanca Conference.

O'BRIEN: And it wouldn't have been called Air Force one at that time. There wasn't even the Air Force. It was the Army Air Corps. So what did they call it?

HARDESTY: Well, this plane had a name -- as part of Pan Am Airlines. It was called the Dixie Clipper, and the Air Force One designation of course came in decades later. It's a callsign, it's a designator for the Air Force plane that flies the president.

O'BRIEN: All right, now this particular mission, the first time ever of a seated president flying in an aircraft, was probably among the most hazardous, maybe the most hazardous.

HARDESTY: Well, the reason he flew across the south Atlantic was the fact that German submarines were still infesting those waters in 1943. And they calculated it was safer for him to make that leap from Brazil over to Bathurst (ph) in British Gambia by plane, and so they used the Dixie Clipper.

O'BRIEN: OK. And all's well that ends well. He made it to the meeting on time. But that certainly ranks up there among the perilous Air Force One missions. When we think of this airplane, a lot of us a certain age, of course, think of the presidency of John F. Kennedy, because of Dallas and what happened and how much that aircraft was a whole part of the whole event of his assassination. There's a picture in your book I'd like to call our viewer's attention to. Kennedy, of course, had a terribly, terribly sore back, and it was difficult for him to climb the steps to the airplane, right?

HARDESTY: Right, he had a very severe back ailment, plus other illness questions during his presidency. And this photograph, taken at the time -- people didn't ascribe any particular meaning to it. But later, in recent years, and most recently, it's been revealed these severe health problems he had, and this was a convenient way for him to get on Sam 26,000, his Air Force One.

O'BRIEN: And that particular Air Force One, of course, was the scene of this next moment in history, perhaps the most -- the one that is etched in our minds the most, Lyndon Baines Johnson, receiving the oath of office there. Hard to forget that one.

HARDESTY: Indeed, it is. And this reminds us that Air Force One is the flying Oval Office, it's an extension of the presidency. It's been a backdrop to more than one drama, national emergency. And we all remember September in 2001, with the terrorist attack, and the president was in Sarasota, Florida, and he made a circuitous flight back to Washington on Air Force One.

O'BRIEN: Now, clearly, when we started discussing the countermeasures and defensive capabilities of Air Force one, we're very quickly in the world of classified material. But at least in general terms, is it safe? Can we take it as an article of faith the state of the art countermeasures for surface to air missile whatnot are on Air Force One?

HARDESTY: Yes. A caveat, though, because we really don't know the precise defensive measures on that plane. But you can rest assured they're of the highest quality and state of art.

The problem in Baghdad, of course, is the prevalence of these SA- 7 ground/air, shoulder-mounted missiles. And just recently, a cargo plane was hit by one, and it didn't crash. So the Air Force One that we have has various jamming devices, and there's even speculation that it has a computer-based laser capability that they can negate the sensor on the heat-seeking missile as it takes to the air. These things are a matter of speculation, they're high tech, they're highly classified. But this plane is, indeed, fitted with all kinds of capabilities. It even has its wiring insulated against electromagnetic waves in case of a nuclear attack. So it is high tech in the extreme.

O'BRIEN: Bulletproof in every way, and thus probably a very good choice for such a dangerous mission I suppose, Von.

HARDESTY: Yes.

And one of the interesting things, just in the press reports, is that they described Air Force One landing in Baghdad at night with the lights off. And this reveals, again, the primitive nature of these SA-7s. They have to be aimed, and you've got to see the aircraft that you're shooting at. And this very simple measure, just turning off the lights, would deny the potential terrorists on the ground a very easy chance to target in the airplane.

O'BRIEN: Some of the countermeasures high tech, some low tech. Turn the switch off. Von Hardesty, author of "Air Force One," curator at the Smithsonian Air and Space. Good luck with the book, and happy holidays to you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

HARDESTY: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 28, 2003 - 13:29   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The star of yesterday's presidential blitz into Baghdad was undoubtedly the president, but his costar was the plane he flew in on. If it hadn't already, Air Force One earned its stripes and secured its reputation for drama, daring, even intrigue. Few people know it's inner working, but Von Hardesty is one of them. He's the curator at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington for that particular department, and he wrote the book, literally, on the president's aircraft, It's called "Air Force One."
It's in bookstores right now.

Von, good to have you with us.

Who was the first president to fly on, I guess, what would be tantamount to an Air Force One?

VON HARDESTY, AUTHOR, "AIR FORCE ONE": It would be Franklin Roosevelt, who flew on a Boeing 314 flying boat across the south Atlantic on the Dixie Clipper, it was called, in 1943 for the Casablanca Conference.

O'BRIEN: And it wouldn't have been called Air Force one at that time. There wasn't even the Air Force. It was the Army Air Corps. So what did they call it?

HARDESTY: Well, this plane had a name -- as part of Pan Am Airlines. It was called the Dixie Clipper, and the Air Force One designation of course came in decades later. It's a callsign, it's a designator for the Air Force plane that flies the president.

O'BRIEN: All right, now this particular mission, the first time ever of a seated president flying in an aircraft, was probably among the most hazardous, maybe the most hazardous.

HARDESTY: Well, the reason he flew across the south Atlantic was the fact that German submarines were still infesting those waters in 1943. And they calculated it was safer for him to make that leap from Brazil over to Bathurst (ph) in British Gambia by plane, and so they used the Dixie Clipper.

O'BRIEN: OK. And all's well that ends well. He made it to the meeting on time. But that certainly ranks up there among the perilous Air Force One missions. When we think of this airplane, a lot of us a certain age, of course, think of the presidency of John F. Kennedy, because of Dallas and what happened and how much that aircraft was a whole part of the whole event of his assassination. There's a picture in your book I'd like to call our viewer's attention to. Kennedy, of course, had a terribly, terribly sore back, and it was difficult for him to climb the steps to the airplane, right?

HARDESTY: Right, he had a very severe back ailment, plus other illness questions during his presidency. And this photograph, taken at the time -- people didn't ascribe any particular meaning to it. But later, in recent years, and most recently, it's been revealed these severe health problems he had, and this was a convenient way for him to get on Sam 26,000, his Air Force One.

O'BRIEN: And that particular Air Force One, of course, was the scene of this next moment in history, perhaps the most -- the one that is etched in our minds the most, Lyndon Baines Johnson, receiving the oath of office there. Hard to forget that one.

HARDESTY: Indeed, it is. And this reminds us that Air Force One is the flying Oval Office, it's an extension of the presidency. It's been a backdrop to more than one drama, national emergency. And we all remember September in 2001, with the terrorist attack, and the president was in Sarasota, Florida, and he made a circuitous flight back to Washington on Air Force One.

O'BRIEN: Now, clearly, when we started discussing the countermeasures and defensive capabilities of Air Force one, we're very quickly in the world of classified material. But at least in general terms, is it safe? Can we take it as an article of faith the state of the art countermeasures for surface to air missile whatnot are on Air Force One?

HARDESTY: Yes. A caveat, though, because we really don't know the precise defensive measures on that plane. But you can rest assured they're of the highest quality and state of art.

The problem in Baghdad, of course, is the prevalence of these SA- 7 ground/air, shoulder-mounted missiles. And just recently, a cargo plane was hit by one, and it didn't crash. So the Air Force One that we have has various jamming devices, and there's even speculation that it has a computer-based laser capability that they can negate the sensor on the heat-seeking missile as it takes to the air. These things are a matter of speculation, they're high tech, they're highly classified. But this plane is, indeed, fitted with all kinds of capabilities. It even has its wiring insulated against electromagnetic waves in case of a nuclear attack. So it is high tech in the extreme.

O'BRIEN: Bulletproof in every way, and thus probably a very good choice for such a dangerous mission I suppose, Von.

HARDESTY: Yes.

And one of the interesting things, just in the press reports, is that they described Air Force One landing in Baghdad at night with the lights off. And this reveals, again, the primitive nature of these SA-7s. They have to be aimed, and you've got to see the aircraft that you're shooting at. And this very simple measure, just turning off the lights, would deny the potential terrorists on the ground a very easy chance to target in the airplane.

O'BRIEN: Some of the countermeasures high tech, some low tech. Turn the switch off. Von Hardesty, author of "Air Force One," curator at the Smithsonian Air and Space. Good luck with the book, and happy holidays to you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

HARDESTY: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com