Dating to November 26, 1962, just about a month after the Cuban Missile Crisis came to a dramatic end, this historic film shows President John F. Kennedy arriving at the Homestead Air Force Base aboard Air Force One. Kennedy delivered remarks at Homestead and presented unit awards for outstanding reconnaissance work concerning the Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
In the film, President Kennedy exits the plane, followed by General Farris Bryant and U.S. Army General Maxwell D. Taylor. They are warmly greeted by Gen. Thomas Power, Gen. Walter C. Sweeney and civilian dignitaries. President then shakes hands with officers in receiving line. The President gets into a red convertible and tours the airbase, where numerous F-100 Super Sabre and A-7 Corsair II aircraft are visible on the tarmac (3:37), as well as A-1 Skyraiders and Douglas C-124 Globemaster (4:22). An air show follows at (5:26), which included a demonstration of a “Blue Moon” low-level reconnaissance run by Air Force RF-101 Voodoo jets. (The Blue Moon missions had proved crucial for gathering intelligence on Soviet missile bases in Cuba.)
The presidential aircraft shown is SAM 26000, which was the first of two Boeing VC-137C United States Air Force aircraft specifically configured and maintained for use by the president of the United States. It used the callsign Air Force One when the president was on board, otherwise SAM 26000 (spoken as ‘SAM two-six-thousand’), with SAM indicating ‘Special Air Mission’.
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
