When President Bush Came Aboard the Lincoln in Navy 1, History Was Made and a Museum Piece was Created
When President George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) to give his “Mission Accomplished” speech to the crew in 2003 he did so in a unique way. He was the first and so far only sitting President to log a trap (arrested landing) aboard an aircraft carrier. The President came aboard the Lincoln in Lockheed S-3B Viking Bureau Number (BuNo) 159387, assigned to Sea Control Squadron THREE FIVE (VS-35) Blue Wolves. The aircraft was flown by VS-35 Executive Officer Commander Skip Lussier and Lieutenant Ryan Phillips. Here is a video clip of the momentous moment when Navy 1 trapped aboard the Lincoln uploaded by the AP Archive YouTube channel.
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VS-35 was a component of Carrier Air Wing FOURTEEN (CVW-14) at the time. BuNo 159387 was accepted by the Navy in May of 1974 as an S-3A variant. For about 15 years the aircraft was operated by VS-29 Dragonfires of CVW-11. The jet also operated with VS-31 Topcats of CVW-7 and by VS-29 again. 159387 earned an Operation Desert Shield ribbon with VS-29 and was assigned to VS-35 during the late 1990s. With the Blue Wolves the jet earned another combat ribbon, flying missions over Iraq. Not long after her duty as Navy 1 was complete, 159387 was grounded and flown to the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola. The jet is displayed there today. The Blue Wolves S-3B Vikings were finally grounded when the squadron was disestablished after their final deployment in March of 2005.
