Great Uncle-Air Force One Hero

I ran across this article of my great uncle (my Grandfather's sister's husband)

www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jbswindal.htm

Grandfather=Albert Glover
Grandfather's Sister=Emily Glover
Great Uncle=J.B. Swindal



Gone West: Col. J.B. Swindal, 88
Mon, 01 May '06

James Swindal timeline:

Here are a few key years in Retired Air Force Colonel James Swindal's life.
1917: Born Aug. 18 in West Blocton, Alabama
1936: Marries his high school sweetheart, Emily.
1941: Encouraged to join military when Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
1942: Enlists in the military.
1963: Flies with President John F. Kennedy, the same year Kennedy is assassinated.
1971: Retired from the Air Force.
2006: Died Tuesday in Cape Canaveral.


JFK's Air Force One Pilot Flew JFK To Dallas -- JFK And LBJ Back
James Barney Swindal passed away recently, another of the World War II Generation, another retired Colonel whose stories of flying the Hump and the Berlin Airlift were once the everyday recollections of hundreds, thousands, of Air Force transport pilots. But being a standout even in that august company, he was selected for a special mission. That mission led to his most famous flight -- with a casket for cargo and a grim and shocked load of passengers.

You see, Col. James B. Swindal was the aircraft commander for Air Force One when it had to carry the body of murdered President John F. Kennedy from Dallas to Washington on November 22, 1963. Just before takeoff, in a scene that would reach millions through the pages of LIFE Magazine, the oath of office was administered to Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson by US District Judge Sarah Hughes aboard the plane, with Johnson's wife Lady Bird, and Kennedy's shocked widow Jacqueline standing by.

When Swindal slipped away on April 25th at Cape Canaveral Hospital in Cocoa Beach, FL, from complications from a broken hip, he was 88 years old and one of the last links to that unhappy flight. Jackie Kennedy, LBJ, Judge Hughes all preceded the pilot in death. His Co- Pilot, Lew Hanson, passed away in January. Kennedy's killer and Kennedy's killer's killer are long underground; even LIFE Magazine is vanished into ancient history. Perhaps it is fitting that the last of the figures remaining from those bleak days was a pilot, a man who simply did his duty as best he could.

The impact of the Kennedy assassination roiled the nation like very few events (Pearl Harbor, the Challenger explosion, 9/11) have done. Anyone who was alive then can tell you where he was at the moment he heard. Afterward, the nation descended into a black night of investigations, accusations, recriminations and conspiracy theories.



But at the time Swindal knew nothing of what was to come, and nothing of what the Kennedy assassination might signify. The idea that a lone crank could have, would have gunned down the photogenic young leader was not on anyone's mind; it seemed that such a terrible crime must have a great significance, and must be backed by a great power or some insidious plan.

There were several orders to start engines, then to stop them.

Finally the go call was made. Air Force One was given a clearance unique, perhaps, in history. "Air Force One take Northwest O-One left, cleared to Andrews Air Force Base by any route, any altitude."

So when Swindal and crew -- co-pilot Lt. Col. Lew Hanson, and flight engineer CMS Joe Chappelle, launched USAF VC-137C 62-6000 (26000 for short) that afternoon, they were prepared for trouble. They carried much more fuel than they needed, in case they arrived at a Washington under attack; they climbed high to be safe. Attack by whom? Safe from what? Well, who could say? But at 41,000 feet over the American interior, in the shelter of a Boeing jet and the hands of a hand- picked crew, the Presidents old and new were safe as could be from whatever it might be.

The crew had done something else to prepare the airplane for JFK's last flight. "[T]here was no place on Air Force One for a casket, and we sure didn't want to put it in the cargo hold," Swindal recalled for Florida Today in 2003. "But back there in the rear were seats for stewardesses, Secret Service and other passengers. So we unbolted those seats -- about four rows, I'm guessing, at least eight seats -- and made a space about the size of a couch. And there was enough room for people to walk around."

They also had to cut a rear bulkhead, the plane's engineer, Chief Master Sergeant Joe Chappelle, remembered in March, 1998. "We knew we would be bringing the president’s body back on 26000, but we didn’t want to put his casket in the cargo hold. He was the president. But it wouldn’t make the turn through the door of the aircraft. We had to remove a bulkhead near the rear so we could turn it. We also removed two rows of seats. That made an area for the casket to rest. I'll never forget Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson helping us load the casket. It was just a few minutes later he was sworn in as president onboard the aircraft."



When the Presidential bier was loaded aboard the jet, Col. Swindal left his preflight preparations to render his President -- his boss -- one last (or was it?) salute.

Swindal has been a VIP pilot at Andrews AFB for a long time when he was selected, after the 1960 elections, to fly the new President- Elect. Kennedy was sworn in on Jan. 20, 1961, and Swindal remained as his pilot. Swindal's qualifications included 11.500 hours, plus the aforementioned experience flying the great airlifts of the mid-20th Century, the Hump (Himalayas) airlift in the China-Burma-India theater, and the Berlin Airlift in the late forties. You might say his career had been shaped by the same events that shaped Kennedy's.
(The president was a PT boat skipper in the war, and always was interested in Berlin as a nexus of the Cold War it fell to him to fight).

At first, their mount was a VC-118, a Douglas DC-6 in military VIP trim, but the Air Force had already experimented with Boeing 707s as VIP aircraft. (One of those early 707s, a VC-137B that flew as SAM 970 when not hauling the President, is in Seattle's Museum of Flight today. It was actually the first jet to carry a President, Kennedy).

But a new era, the Space Age, deserved a new airplane, and in 1962 the Air Force One of the Kennedy and Johnson years was delivered.



Coded SAM (Special Air Mission) 26000 from its Air Force serial number, the plane was only called Air Force One when the President was aboard, but it was reserved for Presidential use, unlike the other planes in the Andrews AFB VIP fleet.

With a paint job created by industrial designer Raymond Loewy and fine-tuned by the aesthetically attuned First Lady, the plane became not just a time management and travel tool, but a flying advertisement for the United States. And James B. Swindal was at home in its left seat. He even told a Chicago Tribune reporter, five years ago, that he turned down chances to go back and enjoy lunch as a guest of the President and First Lady.

"The Kennedys invited me to join them for lunch a couple of times, but I couldn't ever do it. You fellows in the media would've had a field day if I were back there eating steak in the president's dining room and a near-miss occurred."

Kennedy would make sociable visits to the cockpit, but never stay long; a wartime injury left him in constant back pain, and a 707 cockpit doesn't offer room to stand up.

Together, Kennedy, Swindal and SAM 26000 made a number of historic flights. They flew to Berlin in June 1963, where Kennedy roused the spirits of the those in the suddenly walled-off city by declaring, "Ich bin ein Berliner." Language students who smirked at his Hahvahd accent and clunky grammar missed the point, but the people of free Berlin didn't. (Decades later, sister plane 27000 would carry another President to Berlin for another vital Cold War speech).

At Kennedy's funeral at Arlington Cemetery, SAM 26000 conducted an overflight at 1000 feet and dipped its wings in salute. By press time we were unable to determine if Swindal was in the pilot's seat for that mission -- but it sure sounds like something he'd have wanted to do (We know that the other pilot from the Dallas mission, then Lt. Col. Lew Hanson, was on the salute flight).

Afterwards, he flew LBJ several times, but LBJ preferred another pilot, James Cross, and LBJ had a very different style than the Kennedys had done. Swindal moved on to other duties, and retired in 1971 from a job flying a desk in support of Cape Canaveral, to nearby Cape Coral.

Swindal was born into a carpenter's family on August 18, 1917, in West Blocton, Alabama, a tiny village southwest of Birmingham and almost exactly centered in Alabama. He worked in a factory in Birmingham's signature iron industry until Pearl Harbor brought the war to America, and Swindal to the Army Air Corps and adventures in the thin air over the Himalayas and the tense corridors to Berlin.

Many military pilots fly for fun after retirement; Swindal didn't.

Indeed, he didn't even travel by plane, and only flew as a passenger once after retiring, to go to his brother's funeral in California. He didn't care for not being in charge, family members said. He is survived by his wife, the former Emily Glover; two children; two grandchildren; and one great-grandson.

We said that Swindal was the last significant survivor of that flight, and that's not entirely true. The airplane survives today, and can be seen at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH. SAM 26000 is the crown jewel of a hangar dedicated to Presidential aircraft at the Museum. If you ride the shuttle to the Presidential hangar, you can still see where Swindal's crewmen cut the back bulkhead of 26000.

To Orwell Today,

Thanks Jackie for the reply and the post WHERE IS JFK'S BIBLE?

Another question that goes with this is "who were the captain and co-captain that flew the Air Force One into Dallas - proof positive". Are there any pictures of these pilots and were they the same pilots who flew out of Love Field?

You know how rumors are, never know till the truth arrives.

-Charles Dismore

Greetings Charles,

Yes, but when the truth arrives make sure to recognize and embrace it (similar to the old adage, "when opportunity knocks, open the door").

The pilot and co-pilot of Air Force One for that entire trip to Texas (and every other trip JFK took in Air Force One while president) were, indisputably, Colonel James Swindal in the left seat, and Lieutenant Colonel Lew Hanson in the right seat. I've written previously about that last flight in the articles LBJ SWORE ON JFK'S BIBLE & LBJ AIR FORCE 2 TO 1 & JFK COFFIN AIR FORCE ONE & LBJ'S FAMOUS PHOTO OP

Above is a picture of the cockpit and Swindal (who died three and a half years ago - in April 2006 - at age 88) holding a model of Air Force One. Below is "the real thing" landing (with Swindal behind the controls flying JFK):



The smoke coming from the tires (normal when breaking) reminds me of an anecdote told by Hugh Sidey in his 1964 book JOHN F KENNEDY, PRESIDENT where he describes flying on Air Force One with JFK from Washington, DC to Rhode Island. When they landed they had a blowout of the right tire and Swindal slowed it down so smoothly (to avoid too much pressure on the left tire) that JFK didn't realize there'd been a problem until after he'd disembarked - and saw all the fire engines and emergency vehicles rushing to assist.

But the most famous anecdotes about Swindal were that he arranged for JFK's coffin to be placed in the back of Air Force One by having several seats removed and bolting it to the floor.



Then he flew the body of JFK home to Washington from Dallas at the highest altitude and the fastest speed the plane had ever flown. And then, at the funeral three days later, Swindal flew Air Force One over Arlington Cemetary, dipping its wings above JFK's grave.

Swindal - like the president he flew - was an anti-communist, democracy-defending patriot. During WWII Swindal had flown risky missions helping India and Burma against Communist China. And after the war he'd gone to Germany's aid flying in food and supplies during the Soviet Blockade of Berlin.



Those were battles close to JFK's heart as, during his presidency, JFK stood up to Communist China and Russia as they again attempted communist take-overs in India and Germany. See ON JFK'S DEATH, CHINA & UN & INDIA, ORWELL, JFK & CHINA & JFK WARMS COLD WAR & JFK & KHRUSCHCHEV

Just five months before JFK died, Swindal had flown him in Air Force One to Germany where JFK stood up to the Communists in one of his greatest speeches ever, closing with the most famous line of all: ICH BIN EIN BERLINER

Swindal didn't fly Air Force One for long after JFK's death - in part because LBJ preferred a different pilot - and in part because Swindal preferred a different president.

I was amazed to recently discover that after JFK was assassinated, and Swindal was replaced as pilot, that Air Force One was used by subsequent presidents to travel to meetings in Communist China and Russia, and also, top-secretly, by Henry Kissinger (official and unofficial warmongering advisor to every president since JFK, see ZIONISM IN AMERICA) who used AF-1 as his own private plane to rendezvous with Communist Vietnamese in Europe setting up detente. Below are two explanatory pages from a 2008 Air Force universtiy research report on THE HISTORY OF AIR FORCE ONE (transcribed underneath in italics):



In the Summer of 1959, Special Air Missions (SAM) accepted the delivery of three identical Boeing 707 (VC-137A) Intercontinental aircraft. Ike used these aircraft interchangeably while maintaining Columbine III as his presidential aircraft. In December 1959, Ike used the new VC-137A on his 11 nation tour to Europe and Russia but it was during the Presidential years of J.F.K. that presidential travel officially entered the jet age.

In 1962, SAM took delivery of a Boeing 707 (VC-137C), aircraft tail number 26000 piloted by Colonel Jim B. Swindal. It was delivered with a striking new exterior designed by Raymond Lowey. This new paint scheme captured a strong tasteful sense of national purpose and the American Presidency. In June 1963, Kennedy used this aircraft on his historic trip to West Berlin where U.S.-German relations were strengthened and strong support of German democracy was established.

On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, President Kennedy flew to Dallas, Texas to mend political fences where he was fatally shot. After a short period, his body was put aboard the presidential aircraft as it was flown back to Washington. The new President, Lyndon Johnson elected to take the oath of office aboard Air Force One.

Col. James B. Swindal (Air Force One pilot flew slain JFK home). New York Times, May 7, 2006 (...Col. Swindal was monitoring the Secret Service frequency from his cockpit while Kennedy rode in a downtown motorcade. At 12:30 p.m., he heard the voice of a Secret Service agent, Roy Kellerman, from Kennedy's limousine: "Lancer is hurt. It looks bad. We have to get to a hospital." Lancer was Kennedy's Secret Service code name. Soon afterward, the Secret Service communications gear on Air Force One went dead. Col. Swindal, who relived those moments in "The Death of a President" by William Manchester, received a phone call from the Kennedy entourage telling him to fuel his plane for a return to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington. But he was given no explanation. Only by watching the plane's television sets did he learn that Kennedy had been shot....)

And more...

Reserved, patriotic and seeing it as his devout duty, he flew presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson as Air Force One's aircraft commander.

But he probably wouldn't have told you that or that he flew missions between China and Burma during World War II.

The Cocoa Beach resident probably would've told you that he was happily married to his high school sweetheart, Emily Swindal, for 70 years and that he's proud of his family.

Retired Air Force Colonel James B. Swindal died Tuesday at Cape Canaveral Hospital. He was 88.

"Jim Swindal will always be a hero to me," said Cecil Stoughton of Merritt Island, who served as an in-house White House photographer. "He was soft-spoken and self-effacing."

Swindal was born August 18, 1917, in West Blocton, Alabama, the son of the late Samuel and Miranda Swindal.

He worked as a crane operator at a cast iron pipe shop in Birmingham, Alabama, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, which prompted him to enlist in the Army in 1942, said his 68-year-old son, James Swindal. He was selected as a flying cadet in the Air Corps.

Years later, Swindal served during Kennedy's administration, including on November 22, 1963, when the president was assassinated. Kennedy had appointed Swindal to colonel a year earlier.

"The day of the assassination was one of the closest I got to Jim, when the president passed away," said Stoughton, who did not have a designated seat on the plane that day.

"Jim said, 'If all the seats are taken you could ride up here with us,' " Stoughton recalled. "Obviously, he was a take-charge guy. He knew that my job was important, as was his."

Swindal considered the flight from Dallas to Washington, D.C., after Kennedy was assassinated, his most difficult. Room was cleared in the back of the Boeing 707 to return Kennedy home in a coffin.

Swindal also served during part of the Johnson administration. Swindal had impressed the Texan by landing a Boeing 707 on a grass strip on a ranch, his grandson, Jonathan, recalled.

After Swindal retired, he refused to fly, opting to drive with his wife across the country in a Cadillac, in the sunshine, visiting military bases and golf courses, said one of his grandsons, 33-year-old Jonathan Swindal.

"After he stopped flying Air Force One, he would not fly on an airplane, because if he's not in charge, he didn't want anything to do with it," Jonathan Swindal said.

He is survived by his wife; daughter, Kathryn Swindal of Leesburg, Virginia; son, James L. Swindal of East Hampton, Connecticut; grandsons J. Christian Swindal and Jonathan Swindal, both of Connecticut; and great-grandson, Mason Swindal of Connecticut.

Calling hours for James B. Swindal will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at Beckman-Williamson Funeral Home in Cocoa Beach.

No date has been announced for services and interment, but they will be at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.


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Colonel James Swindal; Piloted Air Force One After Kennedy's Death
By Adam Bernstein
Courtesy of the Washington Post
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Retired Air Force Colonel James B. Swindal, 88, who commanded Air Force One for John F. Kennedy and flew the body of the slain president to Washington from Dallas in 1963, died April 25, 2006, at Cape Canaveral Hospital in Cocoa Beach, Florida. He had complications from a broken hip.

Colonel Swindal, a soft-spoken Alabamian with matinee-idol looks, was a veteran of World War II and the postwar Berlin Airlift. He had 11,500 flying hours to his credit, including a long stint flying dignitaries from National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base. He became President-elect Kennedy's personal pilot in 1960.

At first, he flew a DC-6 for Kennedy, but Boeing unveiled a tailor-made jetliner for the jet-setting president in late 1962. On that special-order Boeing 707 -- the first jet-powered craft used for presidential transport -- Col. Swindal took Kennedy to Love Field in Dallas from Fort Worth on Nov. 22, 1963.

From a portable radio inside the cockpit, he first heard the account of the president's assassination.

"We were sort of in a bind, because there was no place on Air Force One for a casket, and we sure didn't want to put it in the cargo hold," Col. Swindal told the newspaper Florida Today in 2003.

"But back there in the rear were seats for stewardesses, Secret Service and other passengers. So we unbolted those seats -- about four rows, I'm guessing, at least eight seats -- and made a space about the size of a couch. And there was enough room for people to walk around," he said.

After rushing to ready the plane for its trip to Washington, he said he left the cockpit to salute the coffin upon its arrival from Dallas's Parkland Memorial Hospital.

By early afternoon, the plane was off the ground, loaded to the limit with fuel to stay aloft as long as possible in case the killing was part of a Soviet attack. As an additional precaution, Col. Swindal took the plane to a cruising altitude of 41,000 feet, much higher than usual.

Moments before the two-hour, 18-minute flight, U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes had administered the presidential oath to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. His wife, Lady Bird, and the widowed Jacqueline Kennedy were at Johnson's side.

Colonel Swindal flew briefly for Johnson and retired from active duty in 1971 from a managerial position at Patrick Air Force Base, the controlling center for Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

James Barney Swindal, a carpenter's son, was born August 18, 1917, in West Blocton, Alabama. He was a crane operator at a cast iron pipe shop in Birmingham before enlisting in the Army after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

Assigned to the Army Air Forces, he ferried men and supplies over the Himalayas in the China-Burma-India theater. In the late 1940s, while stationed at Rhein-Main Air Base near Frankfurt, Germany, he participated in the Berlin Airlift that brought supplies to Berliners during a communist blockade of that city.

On Air Force One, he flew Kennedy to West Berlin in June 1963 to give the "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in support of democracy.

In interviews, Col. Swindal said he shared "small talk" with Kennedy, who rarely stayed long in the small cockpit because he wore a back brace.

"The Kennedys invited me to join them for lunch a couple of times, but I couldn't ever do it," Colonel Swindal told the Chicago Tribune in 2001. "You fellows in the media would've had a field day if I were back there eating steak in the president's dining room and a near-miss occurred."

In retirement, Colonel Swindal settled in Cocoa Beach and only went on an aircraft once more -- when his brother died in California. Otherwise, he had an aversion to flying that his family attributed to a distaste for not being in charge.

Survivors include his wife of 70 years, Emily Glover Swindal, who is at a nursing home in Merritt Island, Fla.; two children, Kathryn Swindal of Leesburg and James L. Swindal of East Hampton, Connecticut; two grandsons; and a great-grandson.


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Emily Mae Glover Swindal passed away Saturday, May 17, 2008 in Leesburg, Virginia. She was predeceased by her husband of seventy years, Colonel James B. Swindal, United States Air Force, retired.
She was born in Jefferson County, Alabama, on August 10, 1919, the youngest of 13 children of the late James and Sarah Glover. She began her career as a military wife and mother in 1942 when her husband enlisted after Pearl Harbor. She cared for her family during tours of duty from San Antonio Texas, to Germany, Spain and stateside until retiring in Cocoa Beach, Florida, in 1972.

She always took great pride in the fact that her husband flew AIR FORCE ONE for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Her family would like everyone to know that during her wonderful life, she made every house a home and filled our lives with love and endless joy. She is terribly missed, but I know she is glad to finally be with J.B.

She is survived by a son James of East Hampton Connecticut, a daughter Kathryn of Leesburg, Virginia, two grandsons, J. Christian Swindal of Ridgefield, Connecticut, and Jonathan Swindal of East Hampton, Connecticut, and a great grandson, Mason Swindal of East Hampton, Connecticut.

Interment Arlington National Cemetery on 9 July 2008 at 3:00 pm.


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SWINDAL, JAMES B
COL US AIR FORCE
WORLD WAR II, KOREA, VIETNAM
DATE OF BIRTH: 08/19/1917
DATE OF DEATH: 04/25/2006
BURIED AT: SECTION 66 SITE 7365
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
SWINDAL, EMILY MAE
DATE OF BIRTH: 08/10/1919
DATE OF DEATH: 05/17/2008
BURIED AT: SECTION 66 SITE 7365
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY



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