Garfield Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 http://www.slate.com/articles/video/video/2015/06/air_force_one_the_367_million_boeing_747_8_is_selected_as_the_next_presidential.html?wpsrc=fol_fb Not a bad way to travel... Quote
Dunluce Castle Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 I'll take 2 please! That's one awesome plane. Quote
Noel Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 http://www.slate.com/articles/video/video/2015/06/air_force_one_the_367_million_boeing_747_8_is_selected_as_the_next_presidential.html?wpsrc=fol_fb Not a bad way to travel... Interesting. The 8 series on the video seems a gulf state style fit out rather than USAF-1. The high tech defensive add-ons and counter measures will probably never be published on media sites or such videos. Never mind 'offensive' defence systems. They got good air milage and flight cycles out of Reagan's two ageing original 747s. Quote
Junctionmad Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 cant see why they didn't get a custom A380 . Quote
Noel Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 cant see why they didn't get a custom A380 . LOL - It's un-American to buy foreign products Its a good thing they didn't have an A380 when they made the movie AF1, Harrison ford would have had a heart attack running up and down THREE deck levels. I remember well disembarking from a 747-200 in Kennedy about 30 years ago and a BA Concord was standing at the adjacent gate. An american gentleman also disembarking from Club class, growled at his party of friends "How dare the British have the best plane in the world, it's just plain darn wrong we don't have something bigger and faster than that darn stick insect." There was much polite if not just very slightly smug laughter from the British passengers alighting the aircraft as they heard this. The French involvement in supersonic air transport was never mentioned by anybody. Quote
Garfield Posted June 10, 2015 Author Posted June 10, 2015 LOL - It's un-American to buy foreign products Indeed, it was that sentiment which contributed towards the scrapping of plans to replace the current 'Marine One' Sikorsky fleet with Merlins (that, and some technical issues), even though they had already been built. http://gizmodo.com/the-13-billion-presidential-helicopters-we-scrapped-an-978480541 Quote
hurricanemk1c Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 Just look at the KC-X programme - the A330 was selected, then unselected and a 40 year ago basic airframe that is now out of commerical production (and was finished completely) in the form of the 767 selected. Nothing, but nothing, was going to prevent Air Force One being a 747-8 Looks like a general video rather than a dedicated Air Force One Quote
Junctionmad Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 indeed, I worked on military projects when I lived in the states in the 80s , its a form of welfare and " regional grants" in reality . a lot of the construction plants are in poor states , often in the south Quote
Broithe Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 indeed, I worked on military projects when I lived in the states in the 80s , its a form of welfare and " regional grants" in reality . a lot of the construction plants are in poor states , often in the south There are few examples of the US military buying foreign - the only one that I can think of off-hand, the AV-8, is theirs now, in effect, the UK doesn't even have any Harriers left flying. Quote
Garfield Posted June 10, 2015 Author Posted June 10, 2015 (edited) There are few examples of the US military buying foreign - the only one that I can think of off-hand, the AV-8, is theirs now, in effect, the UK doesn't even have any Harriers left flying. Canberras, too... although built by Martin. Edited June 10, 2015 by Garfield Quote
jhb171achill Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 Are these things broad or narrow gauge, steam or diesel? Quote
Broithe Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 Are these things broad or narrow gauge, steam or diesel? The Canberras got a lot wider when Martin got hold of them.... All I could thing of was the Spads a hundred years ago.. Quote
Garfield Posted June 10, 2015 Author Posted June 10, 2015 All I could thing of was the Spads a hundred years ago.. Oh, and the USAAF operated a few squadrons of Spitfires in the UK and the Mediterranean during WWII... Quote
hurricanemk1c Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 The BAe Hawk was built under license by McDonnell Douglas I believe - it's OK if it is built in America post World War Two. The USAAF also operated Mosquitos. According to Wikipedia, the US Military use a handful of other nationality aircraft - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_United_States_military_aircraft Quote
Broithe Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 Oh, and the USAAF operated a few squadrons of Spitfires in the UK and the Mediterranean during WWII... 600 of them, apparently, as a result of the disappointing performance of the Airacobra, until the Mustang came on line. A similar situation to what drove them to the Spads the first time round.... Quote
Broithe Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 it's OK if it is built in America When I had a proper job, we had a licence-building arrangement in Macon, Georgia, for just that reason - they wouldn't buy the stuff unless they could pretend it was what they like to call "native". We had endless trouble with the stuff they assembled and once, in a meeting about it with my extremely humourless boss, he declared that "These Americans - they're just a bunch of cowboys!" Everybody started laughing and he just couldn't see why. So I said, "Actually, John, some of them are Indians", and he thought I was being racist about immigrants from the Indian sub-continent. It was like working in a mental hospital. Quote
Mayner Posted June 11, 2015 Posted June 11, 2015 When I had a proper job, we had a licence-building arrangement in Macon, Georgia, for just that reason - they wouldn't buy the stuff unless they could pretend it was what they like to call "native". We had endless trouble with the stuff they assembled and once, in a meeting about it with my extremely humourless boss, he declared that "These Americans - they're just a bunch of cowboys!" Everybody started laughing and he just couldn't see why. So I said, "Actually, John, some of them are Indians", and he thought I was being racist about immigrants from the Indian sub-continent. It was like working in a mental hospital. Its nearly 60 years since Eiesenhower warned about the defence industry taking over. The United States foot dragging over the Pacific Trade Agreement is an excellent example of how their approach to trade and protecting American corporates has not really changed much since the 19th Century Quote
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