AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 54

If the basic design of the Aero Commander
looks familiar, it should. It was designed by Ted
Smith, who designed two famous warbirds during
World War II, the Douglas A-20 Havoc and
the Douglas A-26 Invader. Both were ground
attack aircraft and light/medium bombers. The
twin-engine, high-wing Aero Commander with
the underwing engines is essentially a miniature
version of these warplanes. The prototype
of the Aero Commander attracted much attention
when in 1951 it took off from Oklahoma
City and flew nonstop to Washington, D.C.,
with the left engine shut down. The two-blade
propeller of the inoperative engine was stowed
in the cabin.
Eisenhower was the only
president to have been a certificated
pilot. (Presidents
George H.W. Bush and George
W. Bush were military pilots but
neither became civilian pilots.)
While serving under Gen. Douglas
MacArthur in the Philippines in 1939,
Eisenhower not only helped to create the
first Philippine air force, but he also fulfilled
a lifelong dream in a Stearman; he earned a
private pilot certificate. According to one of
his instructors, celebrated Filipino pilot Jesus
Villamor, Eisenhower was " a poor pilot but a
good student. " (In 1957 Villamor said in a letter
to Eisenhower " how that 'poor pilot' had made
a great president. " ) Eisenhower often took the
controls of his L-26B and maneuvered the aircraft
during many of his flights to and from
the farm, but he apparently and thankfully
was not allowed to make takeoffs or landings.
(Eisenhower also was the only sitting president
to be an AOPA member.)
Whenever Eisenhower flew to the farm,
his airplane was part of a gaggle of four or five
L-26Bs. Visitors who flew to the farm during
Eisenhower's administration included
Nikita Khrushchev, Charles de Gaulle,
Winston Churchill, Bob Hope, Billy Graham,
Ronald Reagan, Field Marshal Bernard Law
Montgomery, Richard Nixon, and John F.
Kennedy. Following his presidential service-1953
to 1961-Eisenhower used the farm
in retirement.
Following a heart attack during his first
term in 1955 and after being released from
the hospital, Eisenhower spent 38 days conAbove,
left to right: Instructor pilot Allen Benzing,
author Barry Schiff, and aircraft director Gerald
Oliver. Following page, left to right: Gerald Oliver,
camera ship pilot Paul Downing, instructor pilot
William Goeken, and crew chief Matt Pedron.
valescing at his farm. This resulted in the
" Gettysburg Airlift, " multiple daily round trips
of the L-26 fleet carrying administration officials,
cabinet members, world leaders, and
family members between Washington, D.C.,
and the grass strip that became known as
" Gettysburg International. "
At the beginning of his second term in 1957
Eisenhower became the first president to fly
in a helicopter, a single-engine, piston-powered
Bell UH-13J Sioux, which was developed
from the Bell 47 made famous some years later
to viewers of the popular television series
M*A*S*H. The thirty-fourth president also
saw " Air Force One " brought into the jet age. In
August 1959 he became the first president to fly
aboard a VC-137A, a Boeing 707-120 Stratoliner
54
AOPA PILOT / January 2024
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024

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