US President Donald Trump departed from Turkey on a secret military flight last month after a credible Iranian assassination threat triggered what officials called a “deception operation”, with the older Air Force One serving as a decoy while Trump was smuggled onto a smaller plane inside an airport catering container.
The US media reported that the operation took place on July 8 when Trump was in Ankara for a NATO summit. Trump had flown into Turkey aboard a new Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar, the plane’s first international trip, but publicly announced on Truth Social that he would use an older, baby blue Air Force One “for old time’s sake” to fly to RAF Mildenhall in Britain.
Television cameras captured Trump boarding the older Air Force One on the tarmac. Minutes later, a US official said, Trump was secretly moved in an airport catering truck, the kind normally used to load meals, to a smaller Air Force C-32A aircraft. The C-32A carrying Trump flew to Britain and the older Air Force One and the press pool landed minutes later. Trump’s actual location was concealed from journalists and some White House staff, many of whom believed they were flying with the President on the decoy plane.
Reporters aboard the older jet were told to keep their window shades closed during the flight. When Trump was later asked why, he said it was “because you’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with”. “But if I go, you go. Right?” he told journalists. “Perhaps someday you want to change professions.” Once in Britain, Trump somehow moved from the C-32A to the older Air Force One. It remains unclear exactly how.
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