Marine One

Marine One
Marine One lifting off from the White House South Lawn

VH-60N over Washington, D.C.

Marine One is the call sign of any United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the President of the United States.^[1] It usually denotes a helicopter operated by the HMX-1 "Nighthawks" squadron, either the large VH-3D Sea King or the newer, smaller VH-60N "WhiteHawk", both due to be replaced by the VXX program. A Marine Corps aircraft carrying the Vice President has the call sign Marine Two.

History

President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan board Marine One in 1987

The first use of helicopters for presidential transport was in 1957, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower traveled on a Bell UH-13J Sioux. The president needed a quick way to reach his summer home in Rhode Island. Air Force One was too large for such short trips, while traffic would be disrupted by traveling in a motorcade. Eisenhower instructed his staff to look into alternative modes of transportation and a Sikorsky UH-34 Seahorse helicopter was commissioned.^[2] The early aircraft lacked the "creature comforts" found on its modern successors, such as air conditioning and toilets.

In 1958, the H-13 was replaced by the Sikorsky H-34, and in 1961 by the VH-3A. Not long after the mode of presidential transport was introduced, presidential aides asked the Marines to look into the White House South Lawn as a helicopter landing zone.^[2] Ample room was present, and the protocol was established.^[2]

Until 1976, the Marine Corps shared the responsibility of helicopter transportation for the president with the United States Army. Army helicopters used the call sign Army One while the president was on board. The VH-3D replaced some VH-3As in 1978, and the remaining VH-3As were replaced by the VH-60N beginning in 1989.

The current VH-3 helicopters used by HMX-1 are aging and in 2002 the VXX competition was started to find a replacement. The helicopter selected was the Lockheed Martin VH-71 Kestrel, a derivative of the AgustaWestland AW101. In April 2009, the VH-71 program was cancelled due to cost overruns.^[3][4][5] In February 2010, the Navy issued a request for information to the aviation industry. Responses will be used to restart the VXX contest.^[6][7][8][9]

On July 16, 2009, Marine One flew with an all-female crew for the first time, as the final flight of the first female to fly the president: Major Jennifer Grieves.^[10] To date, Marine One has never had any kind of anomalous accident or terrorist attack.^[11]

Current operations

Marine One is sometimes the preferred alternative to motorcades, which can be expensive and logistically difficult. The controlled environment of a helicopter adds greatly to the safety factor as well. It is also used to transport senior Cabinet staff and foreign dignitaries.

More than 800 Marines supervise the operation of the Marine One fleet, which is based in Quantico, Virginia, but is more often seen in action on the South Lawn of the White House or at Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility in Maryland. At Andrews, it is sometimes used to connect to Air Force One for longer journeys. Wherever Marine One flies, it is met on the ground by at least one Marine in full dress uniform (most often two with one acting as an armed guard). According to a story told by Bruce Babbitt, President Clinton, in his final days of office, while flying over and landing in a remote area near the Grand Canyon, found a Marine waiting on the rock ready to salute him.^[12] Marine aviators flying Marine One do not wear regular flight suits during flights, but rather the Marine Blue Dress Charlie/Delta uniform.

As a security measure, Marine One always flies in a group with identical helicopters, sometimes as many as five. One helicopter carries the President, while the others serve as decoys for would-be assassins on the ground. Upon take-off these helicopters begin to shift in formation (sometimes referred to as a presidential shell game) regularly to obscure the location of the President. Marine One is also equipped with standard military anti-missile countermeasures such as flares to counter heat-seeking missiles and chaff to counter radar-guided missiles, as well as AN/ALQ-144A infrared countermeasures.^[13] To add to the security of Marine One, every member of HMX-1 is required to pass a Yankee White background check before touching any of the helicopters used for presidential travel.^[14]

Marine One is always transported (as is the president's limousine) wherever the president travels, within the U.S. as well as overseas.^[15] At a presidential inauguration, the Marines offer a flight to the outgoing president from the Capitol to Andrews Air Force Base.

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  Interior of a VH-3D Sea King Marine One transporting President Barack Obama

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  Three Marine One helicopters flying over the National Mall.

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  A former Marine One at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

See also

United States Marine Corps portal

• Organization of the United States Marine Corps
• Air Force One, the Presidential aircraft
• Presidential state car (United States), the Presidential limousine

References

1. ^ "HMX-1 Executive Flight Detachment". United States Marine Corps. http://www.marines.mil/unit/hqmc/hmx-1/Pages/deps/EFD/default2.aspx. Retrieved 22 June 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Brent, P.T. (February 2009). "'Marine One' - Welcome aboard". Leatherneck Magazine. http://www.leatherneckmagazine-digital.com/leatherneckmagazine-share/200902/?pg=20&pm=2&u1=friend. Retrieved 200-01-29. 
3. ^ Cost Nearly Doubles For Marine One Fleet
4. ^ "Obama mulls chopping costs on helicopter fleet". AFP (Yahoo! News). February 24, 2009. http://www.yahoo.com/s/1035044. Retrieved 2009-02-24. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Gates outlines military spending overhaul - politics - msnbc.com
6. ^ Trimble, Stephen. "New VXX competition reveals changes for US presidential helicopter". Flight International, 18 February 2010.
7. ^ Fein, Geoff. "Bell-Boeing V-22 Latest Entry For Navy's Presidential Helo RFI". Defense Daily, 21 April 2010. subscription article.
8. ^ Reed, John (May 5, 2010). "Boeing to make new multiyear Osprey offer". Marine Corps Times. http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/05/military_osprey_boeing_050510w/. Retrieved 6 May 2010. 
9. ^ "Boeing says AW101 one of its three options for VXX". FlightGlobal.com. 6 June 2010. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/06/08/342926/boeing-says-aw101-one-of-its-three-options-for-vxx.html. Retrieved 10 June 2010. 
10. ^ Superville, Darlene (July 16, 2009). "First Female Marine One pilot finishes tour". Associated Press. Marine Corps Times. http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_marine_one_female_pilot_071609/. Retrieved 2009-07-20. 
11. ^ On Board Marine One (Television production). Discovery Channel. 2009-01-25. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/on-board/3654/Overview. Retrieved 2009-01-26. 
12. ^ Speech by Bruce Babbitt (2000-02-17)
13. ^ Cryptome Eyeball-series (22 April 2006)
14. ^ GlobalSecurity.org (2010-08-11)
15. ^ National Geographic - On Board Air Force One (2010-08-15)

• Brent, P.T. (February 2009). ""Marine One"--Welcome Aboard". Leatherneck Magazine (Quantico, Virginia: Marine Corps Association) (Feb 2009): 18–21. http://www.leatherneckmagazine-digital.com/leatherneckmagazine-share/200902/?pg=20&pm=2&u1=friend. Retrieved 2009-04-04. 
• "Dallas News Editorial". 2009-06-24. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-helicopter_25edi.State.Edition1.2d6416c.html. ^{[dead link]}
• "Citizens Against Government Waste Press Release". 2009-05-20. http://www.cagw.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=12052. ^{[dead link]}
• Collins, Gail (May 14, 2009). "Trouble on Air Obama". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/opinion/14collins.html?_r=1&scp=16&sq=marine%20one%20helicpoter&st=cse. 
• "Order JO 7110.65T (Air Traffic Control) §2-4-20 ¶7,8". Federal Aviation Administration. 11 February 2010. http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/ATC/atc0204.html#atc0204.html.8. Retrieved 16 June 2010.  article

External links

• Popular Science article on Marine One
• Google Sketchup Model and Tour of New Marine One
• Google Sketchup of the Sea King version of Marine One