@ Tokyo, Japan
November 2024
A Commander on display at the Museum of Aeronautical Sciences located next to Narita Airport. First flown in 1948, the Aero Commander was a light business twin designed by a group of Douglas engineers using the A-20 Havoc bomber as a starting point. One became a presidential transport aircraft for Dwight D. Eisenhower between 1956 and 1960 and was the smallest “Air Force One,” and the first to wear the now-familiar blue-and-white livery. The aircraft gained fame at the hands of famed pilot R. A. “Bob” Hoover as he demonstrated the Shrike Commander 500S for decades in a variety of “managed energy” routines, including single-engine and engine-out aerobatics. Later variants, like this circa-1958 680E Commander, incorporated supercharged engines, a larger wing and lighter landing gear. This example operated with the Asia Air Survey, contributing to the postwar recovery and re-construction of Japan using maps and survey data based on aerial photogrammetry.
