Check Out These Shots Of Air Force One and SAM46 At RAF Mildenhall For Biden’s Trip To G7 Summit

Air Force One Mildenhall
Air Force One on the ground at RAF Mildenhall on Jun. 9, 2021. (All images: Stewart Jack)

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.

Final approach to RAF Mildenhall.
Air Force One Mildenhall
The VC-25A after landing.

Air Force One departed the base in Suffolk at 21.54 LT.

Air Force One Mildenhall
Air Force One departs for Cornwall.

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.

The C-32 flying as SAM46.

Both aircraft found some bad weather around destination and were forced to hold before landing.

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.

Air Force One Mildenhall
A side view of Air Force One.

 

About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.