Marine One
Marine One
!VH-3D Marine One departing from the White House in 2019.
Marine One
Marine One is the call sign of any United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the president of the United States. As of 2024, it is most frequently applied to a presidential transport helicopter operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) "Nighthawks", most commonly as the VH-3D Sea King, or less frequently as the newer VH-92A Patriot and smaller VH-60N "White Hawk". Both helicopters are called "White Tops" because of their livery. Any Marine Corps aircraft carrying the vice president of the United States without the president has the call sign Marine Two.
History
The first use of a helicopter to transport the president was in 1957, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower traveled on a Bell UH-13J Sioux. The president wanted a quick way to reach his summer home, in Pennsylvania. Using Air Force One would have been impractical over such a short distance, and there was no airfield near his home with a paved runway to support fixed-wing aircraft, so Eisenhower instructed his staff to investigate other modes of transport and a Sikorsky UH-34 Seahorse helicopter was commissioned. The early aircraft lacked the amenities of its modern successors, such as air conditioning and an aircraft lavatory for use in flight.
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