President Trump just took his first flight on the new Qatari-gifted, $400 million Air Force One on July 1 to visit the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota, but for his departure from the NATO summit in Turkey Wednesday, he was back in the old Kennedy-era robin’s‑egg blue and white plane.
The obvious question for observers was: why?
Trump said he wanted American servicemembers to be some of the first people to see the new AF1, and that’s why he sent it ahead to RAF Mildenhall in England. (Although it’s technically a “Royal Air Force Base,” it is functionally an American one as it’s been in continuous use by the U.S. Air Force since 1950.)
"We just landed and met up with our new Air Force One, which was sent earlier to RAF Mildenhall, so we could show the wonderful Servicemembers, as per the entire Base’s request. They were very excited, picture enclosed. It was on our way back to the States from Turkey, with… pic.twitter.com/Zd5vDO12G9
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 8, 2026
"We just landed and met up with our new Air Force One, which was sent earlier to RAF Mildenhall, so we could show the wonderful Servicemembers, as per the entire Base’s request. They were very excited, picture enclosed. It was on our way back to the States from Turkey, with virtually no deviation of flightpath." - President DONALD J. TRUMP
MORE: Red, White and Blue Takes Flight — Trump Boards Luxe New AF1 for Maiden Voyage
But there are multiple reports that indicate that the switch was due to another reason as well: security.
President Trump flew out of Turkey on Wednesday night on the old Air Force One instead of his new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8 as a security precaution related to the resumption of hostilities with Iran, according to people briefed on the plans, who said the change came at the urging of the Secret Service.
As our Ward Clark reported earlier Tuesday, Iran is hell-bent on killing the president because of renewed hostilities and his 2020 first-term decision to remove the bloodthirsty IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani from the earth. “I'm number one on the kill list for Iran,” the president told reporters at the NATO summit.
FEARLESS: "I am number one on the kill list for Iran [...] I don’t really care because I’m doing my job and doing it, I hope, better than anyone has ever done it."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 8, 2026
"I like being number one on TikTok better. But I’m number one on the list for killing." pic.twitter.com/1Co6EmGdvW
The older Air Force One has been time-tested and has many defense systems, and I’m pretty sure that we, the civilians, don’t know what they all are.
The older model of Air Force One is believed to have anti-missile defenses — prompting authorities to strictly prohibit up-close photos of its rear.
It’s unclear if the new presidential jet also has anti-missile technology…
Retired Army Gen. Robert Abrams told ABC News that security around the Ankara airport “was probably a concern” and that “it had to be significant enough, I think, in this case for President Trump to agree not to fly out on it.”
Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA official, tweeted that he believed the plane was “not equipped with [an] appropriate comms/force pro[tection]/security package” for international duty and that “Secret Service and US [Air Force] pleas must have won out.”
When asked if he switched planes over security concerns, the president was coy, but reiterated, “I’m number one on the kill list for Iran. They’re lovely people.” In another interview aboard the flight, he downplayed any specific threat, but also threw in some of his trademark humor:
"Were you aware of any credible threat by Iran against Air Force One?"@POTUS: "I have a threat all the time. I'm number one on their list, before you — but if I go, you go, right? So perhaps some of you want to change professions." 🤣 pic.twitter.com/5VlZBBySwx
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 9, 2026
In any case, the president boarded the new jet at Mildenhall and is headed back to America. We'll probably never know the whole story — why the heck would they share inside security secrets with the world — but all’s well that ends well, as they say.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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