In 1962 , a VC-137C specifically purchased for use as Air Force One , entered into service with the tail number 26000 . It is perhaps the most widely known and most historically significant presidential aircraft . SAM 26000 flew President John F. Kennedy to West Berlin in 1963 , where he declared to West Berliners , " Ich bin ein Berliner , " assuring them of continuing United States support in the face of Communist threats and the construction of the Berlin Wall . Kennedy also flew aboard SAM 26000 to Dallas , Texas , where he was assassinated on 22 November 1963 — and it was on this airplane that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the new president . SAM 26000 then carried John F. Kennedy 's body and President Johnson back to Washington , D.C. Johnson also used 26000 to visit U.S. troops in Vietnam during the Vietnam War
assassinated
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Special Air Mission