<P> The "Air Force One" call sign was created after a 1953 incident during which a Lockheed Constellation named Columbine II, carrying President Dwight D. Eisenhower, entered the same airspace as a commercial airline flight using the same call sign . </P> <P> A number of aircraft types have been used as Air Force One since the creation of the presidential fleet, starting with two Lockheed Constellations in the late 1950s: Columbine II and Columbine III . It also operated two Boeing 707s, introduced in the 1960s and 1970s; since 1990, the presidential fleet has been two Boeing VC - 25 As, which are specifically configured, highly customized Boeing 747 - 200B series aircraft . The Air Force plans to procure the Boeing 747 - 8 for the next version of Air Force One . </P> <P> On 11 October 1910, Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to fly in an aircraft, an early Wright Flyer from Kinloch Field near St. Louis, Missouri . He was no longer in office at the time, having been succeeded by William Howard Taft . The record - making occasion was a brief overflight of the crowd at a county fair but was nonetheless the beginning of presidential air travel . </P> <P> Prior to World War II, overseas and cross-country presidential travel was rare . The lack of wireless telecommunication and available modes of transportation made long - distance travel impractical, as it took much time and isolated the president from events in Washington, D.C. Railroads were a safer and more reliable option if the president needed to travel to distant states . By the late 1930s, with the arrival of aircraft such as the Douglas DC - 3, increasing numbers of the U.S. public saw passenger air travel as a reasonable mode of transportation . All - metal aircraft, more reliable engines, and new radio aids to navigation had made commercial airline travel safer and more convenient . Life insurance companies even began to offer airline pilots insurance policies, albeit at extravagant rates, and many commercial travelers and government officials began using the airlines in preference to rail travel, especially for longer trips . </P>

First us president to fly in an airplane