New color scheme unveiled for Air Force One that discards Trump's design

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

CNN — The US Air Force unveiled a new color scheme for the new Air Force One jets under construction on Friday, doing away with the darker red, white, and blue chosen by former President Donald Trump and opting for a modernized version of the classic design of the president’s aircraft.

The color scheme also scraps the design Trump wanted for Air Force One, which featured a deep red stripe down the middle of the aircraft and a dark blue underbelly. It was confirmed that Trump’s preferred color scheme had been rejected last year because it would require additional engineering, increasing the time it would take to build and the cost of the aircraft, which has already suffered numerous delays. The dark blue paint threatened to overheat sophisticated electronic components on board and would have required additional Federal Aviation Administration qualification testing, the Air Force said.

Instead, the “Next Air Force One,” as it’s known, will feature largely the same colors as the aircraft it is replacing, with one subtle exception. Renderings provided first to CNN show the shade of blue around the nose and engines of the aircraft will be a darker color than the current robin’s egg blue. The overall scheme stays true to the design Air Force One has sported since President John F. Kennedy was in the White House 60 years ago.


This rendering shows the Air Force One color scheme.



A model of President Donald Trump's proposed redesign of Air Force One on display in the Oval Office of the White House in October 2019.


According to the Air Force, President Joe Biden had to select the new livery so that Boeing could conduct engineering, certification preparation, and more for the VC-25B aircraft, which is a modified 747-8i. These steps will occur as Boeing is also modifying and testing the fleet of two aircraft currently under construction.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/10/politics/air-force-one-color-scheme

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LOL good.

[hlthe2b]

1. THANK DOG!

THat is such welcome news!



(more annoyance for TFG... )

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Agree

(will see how long CNN keeps that headline)

It's almost the same blue that the Philly police cars used in the '70s -



(that blue had been a switch from decades of being red but now they have been white since the mid-80s)

[SheltieLover]

21. Until the toddler has a tantrum.

[BumRushDaShow]

26. LOL

And the ketchup starts to fly!

[SheltieLover]

28. Oh, I'll bet it's flying!

And Depends filling regularly.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. ...

[SheltieLover]

30. The slob has not had a good day in court.

May he never have a good day again!

[machoneman]

47. Tantrum in 5-4-3-2-1. Love the idea that Joe has usurped TFG in so, so many ways! Keep it up Joe!

[SheltieLover]

20. No kidding!

Tfg's looked like a Fed-Ex package.

[SharonAnn]

70. So much better than the TFG's old-fashioned, bad taste colors and design.

[louis-t]

2. I'm sure stupidface wanted to patent the design

so he could get paid every time someone flew the thing.

[hlthe2b]

5. Here's what he did to his own jet (when he finally got it flying again), so yeah

"Trump Force One"

[thenelm1]

7. Is that his "personal kill" score on the tail? n/t

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. The three larger splashes were for his three Extreme Court appointments.

The six smaller splashes represent his future plans for the court.

So, yeah, a scorecard of sorts.

[SheltieLover]

22. Hideous

[LiberalFighter]

24. Maybe it will overheat?

[Meadowoak]

27. looks like its sitting on a giant light bulb, what is that?

[moonscape]

31. A bomb he wants to drop on CA

[ZZenith]

41. The left engine. N/t

[Meadowoak]

43. Is it missing a wing?

[colorado_ufo]

58. You are right! It does look light a giant light bulb!

Now you owe me a keyboard!!!

[riversedge]

64. Its too busy-too many colors.

[aggiesal]

11. We named one of our cattle ''Stupidface'' ...

We serve him, for my sisters wedding.
Every time we'd eat at the reception, we would tease her with
"Look we're eating Stupidface"

[2naSalit]

3. Glad to hear it!

[Auggie]

4. Huge improvement. Softer, friendlier ... like it.

[Ford_Prefect]

15. Better mileage too. The dark colors weigh significantly more than the white and Carolina blue.

Air Force and airlines have confirmed that the darker colors add significant weight which requires more fuel burned over the cumulative number of times a plane accelerates, takes off and lands.

[NullTuples]

59. It's nearly the 2015 design, as if Trump never happened (photo comparison below)

2015:


New livery:

[calimary]

63. Nice! SOOOOO much better than the donald's version.

His darker color scheme looks ALL WRONG.

Downright ugly, if you ask me. Actually looks rather sinister.

[sheshe2]

8. Looking good.

[Traildogbob]

10. Fuck the color red

Forever more.

[OMGWTF]

12. I swore I'd never wear a red hat again, but then my neighbor asked me to join her Red Hat

ladies group for their monthly luncheon. I make sure the red hat I wear doesn't look anything like a MAGAt hat.

[Layzeebeaver]

13. lets not forget observational impact

Any critical aircraft should have a paint scheme that helps reduce hostile forces identificaiton and targeting capability.

That Trump design of dark blue and red would have clearly helped hostile forces.

That said, AF1 has an incredible set of threat aversion technology.... but still... paint it an effective defensive colour scheme.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Plus

there are some commercial airlines like KLM that use that light blue color and that can sortof camouflage AF1 as something not "official/governmental" (outside of the big "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" on the side) if someone was trying to target it.

[Captain Zero]

14. Trump's colors look like Nazi SS design.

That blue is almost a black.

[Shipwack]

16. Interesting...

I would never have thought that somethings as "trivial" as a paint scheme would have such a huge impact on design and testing.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. Well think about the design of this guy

(and yes, the paint was a big part of it)

[MyOwnPeace]

34. Oh yeah? Big deal!

Our President tRump NEW that we had a 'stealth plane' that was truly invisible! He nose what he's talking about - after all, he's got the bestest brain!

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-genuinely-seems-believe-f-35s-are-literally-invisible-n1131361

[BumRushDaShow]

36. ...

[MyOwnPeace]

37. Yeah, that's it!!!!!!

And he's there in the back there on the golden sh*tter sending out another tweet now that he's allowed back on!

[wendyb-NC]

18. I love that new design

and color scheme.

[Xipe Totec]

23. The Trump design looks like TWA from the 50's nt

[Riverman100]

25. great!

Undue everything he did! Next get rid of the idiotic space force and give whatever they are doing to the usaf!

[Butterflylady]

49. And put the rose garden back the way it used to be.

[LiberalArkie]

32. A military plane never has the bottom side really dark. It shows up easily in the sky.

Easier to shoot down. The underside should be the color of the sky, as far as I remember.. Maybe different these days.

[machoneman]

48. On our now ancient B-52s, nuke bomb carrying planes had the bottom painted glossy white. It was...

painted that way to reflect heat & light emanating from the just dropped nuclear bomb.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-flash_white

[jmowreader]

33. Difference in negotiations between the presidents...

Trump:

“The new Air Force One livery will be this.” Pulls out picture.
“Fuck you, asshole. We are NOT going to paint Air Force One to look just like your personal airplane, just upside down. Who the fuck do you think you are?”

Biden:

“There’s nothing wrong with the current livery. Don’t change a thing.”
“Sir, the jet would look sharper if we changed the color from Robin’s Egg Blue to UNC Blue and kept the design.”
“Fine by me.”

[MyOwnPeace]

35. And isn't that the truth?

Someone leading with brains as opposed to someone with an 'ego.'

[Wounded Bear]

52. Not to mention somebody who listens to experts...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

38. Major FU to the dotard

[moniss]

39. It would be so cool

if they would put the US flag a little higher on the tail and the rainbow flag underneath it.

[secondwind]

40. GROSS!!

[Bayard]

42. Purty

[DENVERPOPS]

44. Trump chose the paint design

based on what Putin would have liked......

The Russian Flag is three horizontal stripes, of White, Red, and Blue.......

[Whatthe_Firetruck]

45. + 1 gazillion

[twodogsbarking]

46. They should fool the Reps and tell them they are painting it gay flag colors.

Heads would spin.

[Butterflylady]

50. Funny but true.

[Historic NY]

51. Brilliant and refreshing , love the jets' fan blades, so modern.

[Joinfortmill]

53. Sky blue color is beautiful and very distinctive. You know whose plane that is.

[live love laugh]

54. From dark to light. ❤️

[Martin68]

55. I'm sorry, but this is the lamest topic I've ever seen on DU. Who cares?

[Lucinda]

56. I had no idea that the shade of the color blue

chosen could cause safety issues.

[BumRushDaShow]

66. The current AF1 planes were put into service in 1990 and 1995

https://web.archive.org/web/20070414073138/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=26295
https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104588/vc-25-air-force-one/

They were due for replacement after 30 years and under Obama in 2015, the model was selected. Just ahead of the 2016 election, 45 inserted himself into the process by insulting the effort and once elected, got personally involved and it all went downhill from there. Boeing didn't help by having cost overruns and a decision was made to retrofit 2 Boeing craft originally built for (but not yet delivered to).... brace for it... Russia.

Biden tossed 45's mess over the summer (although from what I have found, they will still be using the planes originally built for a now-defunct Russian airline but have basically been gutting it and reconstructing portions) and the OP's announcement is the result of the change.

Part of the problem, as some have mentioned in this thread, is that apparently the dark color scheme that had originally been chosen, would have impacted the plane's exterior temperature near certain components/sensors, exceeding the spec, as anyone who owns a dark car and dark-colored seating knows they heat up faster than a light car and light-colored seating. That's physics and chemistry.

[LiberalLovinLug]

57. I wonder how much is spent on this re-paint?

And it raises the question as to how much a new President's family redecorates or re-does any and all things under the umbrella of the Presidency.

I can bet that Trump took advantage of this as much as he could.

[DENVERPOPS]

61. Painting a commercial jet

of this size, costs a fortune, and the weight of the plane's paint is substantial.
A United Pilot told me the smartest airline was American because their planes exterior was mostly aluminum. He said it saved them a fortune in paint, as well as the reduced weight allowed them to carry more freight, therefore making more profit.

Even worse than painting, is REPAINTING a jetliner. The plane has to be stripped of the previous paint using an incredibly strong paint remover to loosen the epoxy paint. That paint remover is very toxic. So toxic that the workers have to don full PPE hazmat protection to accomplish it. He said it actually takes longer to remove the old paint than it does to just paint the new colors....

Another interesting thing he said was that he was always shocked, every time an Airline gets a new CEO, he wants to make a statement by re-doing the existing logo, and repainting the planes an entirely new color. He laughed and said that the airlines have enough problems trying to make money without that phenomenal expense. He said think about it, and it's not only the planes, but every one of the incredible number of paperwork and forms all being re-printed, the ticket counters at all airports being totally re-done, etc etc
He also talked about the considerable amount of time the planes weren't in operation during the massive repainting, and stated that if a plane isn't in the air, it isn't making money........

[Orange Buffoon]

60. The robin's egg blue was better.

They should have kept it the way it was.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

62. TFG's design for Air Force One was ugly

[musclecar6]

65. The only thing

Missing on the Orange Deplorable’s rendering of what his idea of a paint job should be, is instead of United States of America emblazoned on the side, it should say Nazi States of America to be in keeping with his ceaseless efforts to be a modern day Hitler.

[Delarage]

67. A couple things:

First: I must be blind and can't really tell a difference between the 2015 version and the new one--is it just the engines that are darker now?

Second: I love 747s. It's a shame they're not making them anymore, but more efficient planes for hub-and-spoke travel these days were needed.

[BumRushDaShow]

68. Current (in service since 1990)

Proposed Biden (render)



ETA -
45's -



This is the "blank" (to show the Boeing model) -

[newdayneeded]

69. your pics show the 747-400

I noticed up-thread an older smaller version of the 747 is shown with the new paint scheme. Which model 747 are they using?

[BumRushDaShow]

71. There was originally an issue of building from scratch

or using 2 already-built models destined for Russia due to cost over-runs.

The supposed decision was to retrofit the already-built models for a now-defunct Russian airline, which were 747-8s. More on that.

The current AF1 is a 747-200.

Had to dig but here is a size comparison -



(from here - https://www.ft.com/content/d2bd472b-0e5d-459f-8503-04633aefeb87)

[newdayneeded]

72. unbelievable floor space in that.

[BumRushDaShow]

73. Yeah it is

and one article I scanned that mentioned how they were gutting the insides of the already-built craft, highlighted that.

[Cha]

74. Beautiful plane.. TY, BRDS!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

75. President Biden has scrapped plans by Trump to change Air Force One's colors to red, white and blue

Link to tweet

[RobinA]

76. I Like The New

light blue better than the previous light blue, but I kinda lean toward the Trump model. I hate to say it. I think the light blue is nice, but it doesn't say Air Force I to me, it says Pan Am. Or, United Nations.