President Biden did away with Donald Trump‘s plans for a new look for Air Force One, and instead stuck with the classic aesthetic … albeit, with a little shade — a lighter one, that is.
The Air Force announced a new paint design that’ll be applied to POTUS’ main ride in the sky, and they say JB has decided to stick with the OG colors that have been around since the ’60s, when JFK started using the jumbo jet and blue/white pattern we all know today.
As you can see … Joe opted for a lighter blue. The way the Air Force describes it though is quite sophisticated … they chalk up the differences this way … “The light blue on VC-25B is a slightly deeper, more modern tone than VC-25A’s robin’s egg blue. Additionally, the VC-25B engines will use the darker blue from the cockpit area vice the VC-25A’s robin’s egg blue.”
They also say there’s no more polished metal on the new AF1 plane(s) — which are being manufactured by Boeing — because modern commercial skin alloys don’t allow for it. 🤷🏽♂️
To the average bear, there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference here — at least not at first glance, anyway — but the AF is insisting there are slight tweaks that make the new plane more efficient and effective. It’s also a bit sleeker in appearance … we’ll give ’em that.
Now, as far as what the ex-Prez wanted a few years back — namely, a completely different color scheme and design that resembled our national flag — the Air Force says it wasn’t going to work out due to technical difficulties and time. An easy decision for Biden, it seems.
Here’s how the AF describes the problem with Trump’s preference back then … “The Air Force previously displayed a red, white, and blue livery for the VC-25B because it had been publicly expressed as a preferred livery in 2019. A thermal study later concluded the dark blue in the design would require additional Federal Aviation Administration qualification testing for several commercial components due to the added heat in certain environments.”
There are also reports that what he wanted — “American” stripes — would’ve taken too long to implement, so they fast-tracked things and revamped what they had. Here’s to you, blue!