<P> Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States . In common parlance the term describes those Air Force aircraft designed, built, and used to transport the president . The presidential aircraft is a prominent symbol of the American presidency and its power . </P> <P> The idea of designating specific military aircraft to transport the President arose in 1943, when officials of the United States Army Air Forces, the predecessor to the U.S. Air Force, became concerned over the reliance on commercial airlines to transport the president . A C - 87 Liberator Express was reconfigured for use as a presidential transport, but the Secret Service rejected it because of its safety record . A C - 54 Skymaster was then converted for presidential use; this aircraft, dubbed the Sacred Cow, carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in February 1945 and was subsequently used for another two years by President Harry S. Truman . </P>

Is air force one any plane the president is on