Both the Air Force One and its back up made a stopover in the UK on their way to the G7 summit in Cornwall.
U.S. President Joe Biden is currently in the UK to attend the G7 summit, that will take place from June 11 to 13 in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. Biden arrived in Europe aboard VC-25A serial number 82-8000, using callsign “Air Force One”, on Wednesday June 9 at 19.37LT.
“Air Force One” is the radio callsign for any Air Force aircraft with POTUS (President of the US) aboard. During the years the term has been used to refer to the two heavily-modified Boeing 747-200s (serial numbers 82-8000 and 92-9000), designated VC-25A, that have carried the president all around the world since 1990.
President Biden met with US personnel stationed at the RAF base and their families before heading to Cornwall.
Air Force One departed the base in Suffolk at 21.54 LT.
Flying into RAF Mildenhall as the AF1 back up was a C-32A (a military version of the Boeing 757-200), serial number 99-0016, that arrived as SAM46. The aircraft landed at 19.11 and departed at 21.56LT.
Both aircraft found some bad weather around destination and were forced to hold before landing.
AF1 and SAM46 heading to Cornwall on indirect routes last night, the weather caused issues for landing with SAM46 circling Newquay airport a number of times. #G7Cornwall #G7Summit #AF1 pic.twitter.com/n4kSoGLpfD
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— Saint1 (@Saint1Mil) June 10, 2021
In this post you can find some photographs taken by our contributor Stewart Jack as the VC-25A and C-32A arrived and departed RAF Mildenhall. Both aircraft are operated by the 89th Airlift Wing, 99th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Andrews.
For a detailed look at the Air Force One and the Presidential motorcade, you can read the story we have published to cover Biden’s visit to Detroit, last month; for breakdown of the VC-25’s anti-missile countermeasures, you can read the detailed article we published in 2018 here.
