("Franklin Newton" wrote)
Which sitting US presidents have flown in a a strictly civilian GA
aircraft?
Date, Type, Pilot, Etc.


A few Presidential flying firsts clipped from the web...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/facts.html
Theodore Roosevelt, on Oct. 10, 1910 -- but that was after his presidency.
The first president to fly while serving as president was Franklin D.
Roosevelt. He was flown from Miami to Casablanca in 1943 for a conference
with Winston Churchill.

MOVIE! MOVIE! MOVIE!

http://www.geocities.com/presfacts/roosevelt.html
TR - he was out of office at the time - 1910.
(Notice they refer to him as "Colonel Roosevelt")

http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y5B362D1D
(Same like as below ...wait for it)

Movie clip of Teddy Roosevelt's flight in 1910
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@filreq%28@field%28NUMBER+@band%28trmp+4087%2 9%29+@field%28COLLID+roosevelt%29%29

http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/trmp/4087.mov
I watched it in Quick-Time he

Eisenhower was the only president who was a licensed pilot, and he initiated
the use of Air Force One.

Dwight Eisenhower was the first nominee to travel by airplane while
campaigning.

Lyndon Johnson traveled by helicopter when he was running for the US Senate
in Texas (1948).
"In his 1948 campaign for the Senate, Johnson was able to deliver 350
speeches in two months by flying around Texas in a helicopter."

http://www.cah.utexas.edu/dodd/johnsonlbj.html
[1948 Lyndon Johnson's hlicopter]
"After a dramatic campaign in which he traveled by "newfangled" helicopter
all over the state, Johnson defeated Coke Stevenson in the Democratic
primary race to be the party's candidate for the Senate seat vacated by
Senator W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel. Johnson won the primary by 87 votes and
earned the nickname "Landslide Lyndon." In the general election, November 2,
he defeated the Republican, Jack Porter, and was elected to the U. S.
Senate."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/...rrier.landing/
[Here's another "first" for you. g]
"It was the first time a sitting president has arrived on the deck of an
aircraft carrier by plane."


Montblack
"One of the most significant dates in the [Minnesota State Fair's] history
was September 2, 1901 when then-Vice President Theodore Roosevelt first
uttered, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Roosevelt became president
just days later after William McKinley was assassinated."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Fair