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Eisenhower was a Lt.\nColonel in the Philippines serving under General Douglas MacArthur. One of Eisenhower\u2019s\nflight instructors was William L. \u201cJerry\u201d Lee, who was training the pilots for\nthe nascent Philippine Air Force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Merrill Atwater, former\nKansas Aviation Director and President Eisenhower’s great grandson, there is a\nfamily story that Ike wanted to become a pilot much sooner. “Ike’s\nfather-in-law told him \u2019you can’t marry my daughter and learn to be a pilot at\nthe same time.\u2019” Atwater shared that once Eisenhower was in the\nPhilippines, he thought it would be OK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, Eisenhower\u2019s Presidential\npapers from 1916-52 reveal Ike earned a private pilot license in 1939 at Fort\nLewis. This aviation knowledge was extremely important to Eisenhower in World\nWar II planning as the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to research\nfrom Dan Ford at the Warbird\u2019s forum, a reference found of Eisenhower flying in\nthe post-Philippines period is found in At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends\nby Dwight D. Eisenhower on page 227, \u201cAfter World War II, I had ceased to fly\naltogether, except that once in a while, on a long trip, to relieve my boredom\nand demolish the pilot’s, I would move into the co-pilot’s seat and take over\nthe controls. But as the jet age arrived, I realized that I had come out of a\nhorse and buggy background, recognized my limitations,\nand kept to a seat in the back.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a November, 2014,\nAkron Beacon Journal article, former Presidential pilot, Billy Draper, said \u201cThe\nPresident sometimes came up to sit in the co-pilot\u2019s seat when we were flying.\u201d\nDraper became Eisenhower\u2019s personal pilot and Air Force aide on call 24\/7 after\nEisenhower\u2019s election in November 1952. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interestingly, the National Museum\nof the US Air Force says, \u201cThe U-4B, a U.S. Air Force version of the\nAero Commander L-26, was used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1956 to\n1960 for short trips. A pilot himself, President Eisenhower would often take\nthe controls, primarily during trips between Washington, D.C., and his farm in\nGettysburg, PA. The first presidential aircraft to have only two engines, the\nU-4B was also the first presidential aircraft to carry the familiar blue and\nwhite paint scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First Lady, Mamie Eisenhower, who was from Colorado,\nnamed their Presidential Constellation, \u201cColumbine\u201d as a tribute to the\nColorado State flower. Over those years as the planes grew in size and power Columbine\nII, and even III, were also Lockheed Constellations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n