[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by oldE

At the risk of inflaming tempers, I am asking :
Why would the president be bothered to announce the color scheme of airplanes which will not be seen for a few years? Is it really that big of a deal?
(Apparently it is to some around here,) but I would think the undersecretary of infrastructure or whatever would be the go to person for such a thing. It is just a paint scheme for government aircraft.

Sorry if I'm stirring up stuff with my lack of understanding.
Best
Les

I was gonna say you could ask JFK that question when he made a really big deal of the new paint scheme, but he's daid.

Under John F. Kennedy, presidential air travel entered the jet age.[18] He had used the Eisenhower-era jets for trips to Canada, France, Austria, and the United Kingdom.[19] Then in October 1962, the U.S. Air Force purchased a Boeing C-137 Stratoliner, a modified long-range Boeing 707—Special Air Mission (SAM) 26000.[20]

The Air Force had designed a special presidential livery in red and metallic gold, with the nation's name in block letters. Kennedy felt the aircraft appeared too regal, and, on advice from his wife, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, he contacted the French-born American industrial designer Raymond Loewy for help in designing a new livery and interiors for the VC-137 jet.[2] Loewy met with the president, and his earliest research on the project took him to the National Archives, where he looked at the first printed copy of the United States Declaration of Independence; he saw the country's name set widely spaced and in upper case in Caslon typeface. He chose to expose the polished aluminum fuselage on the bottom side and used two blues – slate-blue associated with the early republic and the presidency and a more contemporary cyan to represent the present and future. The presidential seal was added to both sides of the fuselage near the nose, a large American flag was painted on the tail, and the sides of the aircraft read "United States of America" in all capital letters. Loewy's work won immediate praise from the president and the press. The VC-137 markings were adapted for the larger VC-25A when it entered service in 1990.[21]