SAM 970 (Special Air Mission 970) was the first presidential jet plane.  It was a specially built Boeing 707-120 and designated as VC-137B. This aircraft, as well as any other Air Force aircraft, carried the call sign "Air Force One" when the president was aboard. Delivered in 1959 to replace Eisenhower's Super-Constellation, the high-speed jet transport is a flying Oval Office with a modified interior and sophisticated communication equipment.

Jet technology gave a president the opportunity to meet face-to-face with world leaders easily. SAM 970 has carried presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon as well as VIPs such as Nikita Khrushchev and Henry Kissinger. By 1962, SAM 970 was replaced by a newer Boeing VC-137C (SAM 2600), but SAM 970 remained in the presidential fleet ferrying VIPs and the Vice-President until June of 1996. It is now on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.

SAM 26000 was the first of two Boeing VC-137C's United States Air Force aircraft specifically configured and maintained for use by the President of the United States. It entered service in 1962, and served as the primary means of transportation for three presidents: Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon during his first term. In 1972, during the Nixon administration, the plane was replaced by another 707, SAM 27000, although SAM 26000 was kept as a back-up plane until 1998. The aircraft is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

SAM 27000 was the second of two Boeing VC-137C United States Air Force aircraft that were specifically configured and maintained for the use of the President of the United States. The plane first entered service in 1972 during the administration of Richard Nixon. SAM 27000 replaced the aging SAM 26000 as the primary means of presidential travel, although SAM 26000 remained as a back-up plane. SAM 27000 served seven presidents in its twenty-nine years of service: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.   In 1990, it was replaced as the primary presidential plane by two Boeing VC-25 jumbo jets — SAM 28000 and SAM 29000.  The aircraft was retired in 2001, and is now on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.