President Trump wants to redesign Air Force One to have a “more American” look, Axios reports. He wants to replace the current light blue trim—which he described as a “Jackie Kennedy color”—with something potentially involving the red, white, and blue of the U.S. flag.
The current coloring dates back to the early 1960s, when President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy had industrial designer Raymond Loewy redesign the plane pro bono. He replaced orange coloring and the words “MILITARY AIR TRANSPORT SERVICE” with a sleek blue trim (technically “luminous ultramarine,” says Axios) and the words “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” For more than 55 years, Air Force One has made this look iconic.
According to the report, Trump sat down with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg in the Oval Office last February to discuss a $4 billion deal for two replacement 747s for use as Air Force One. Trump has the authority to change the design, some top officers within the Air Force reportedly prefer the current blue, which they say is “known around the world.”
“Every time you see that blue trim and the words ‘UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’ spelled out in that same typeface as an early version of the Declaration of Independence, it brings back JFK landing in Germany to speak at the Berlin Wall, Richard Nixon flying to China, Ronald Reagan stepping off the plane to see Gorbachev in Iceland and a thousand other scenes of Presidents in our past,” presidential historian Michael Beschloss told Axios.
Aside from updating the color scheme, Trump reportedly wants to upgrade the presidential bed, replacing the current couch-like bunk with something bigger and more comfortable. But he won’t even get to enjoy these changes unless he’s reelected: Boeing’s (BA) two 747s need to be converted from commercial aircraft to a presidential transport, and are unlikely to hit the skies before January of 2021.
