NAS Patuxent River, Md. –
A retired, de-militarized and restored VH-3D Marine One was inducted into the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, College Station, Texas in June. The library and museum, located within the Texas A&M University campus, welcomed Presidential Helicopters Program Office members, Bush family members, donors and supporters to the grand opening of a new pavilion that now houses the retired Marine One.
Bureau number 159358 (BUNO 358) served United States presidents beginning with the Ford administration. The VH-3D was sent to Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) in 1976, flew roughly 12,100 hours and was returned to the program office’s Presidential Helicopter Support Facility (PHSF) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, in 2023 for its end of service life.
Retiring a Flying Legacy
When BUNO 358 was nearing its end of service flight hours, the program office began reaching out to Department of the Navy and National Museum of the Marine Corps stakeholders regarding disposition options for a retired Marine One helicopter.
The George & Barbara Bush Foundation and the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum were in the process of expanding its current facility footprint by adding an extension to draw more visibility and increase attendance to the museum. The plan was to house the retired and donated 4141 Union Pacific presidential locomotive, add in a café, and use the space for functions. As luck would have it, the foundation’s new facility also had room for the retired BUNO 358. The locomotive and helicopter both transported President Geroge H. W. Bush in his many years of service as the 43rd vice president and as the 41st president.
The Presidential Helicopters program office team worked a detailed schedule in preparation for the helicopter’s de-militarization and transport. The helicopter went through a process like many other retiring aircraft to include top shelf inspection, maintenance, testing and white-glove care. A retired aircraft must be able to sustain all types of weather, elements, temperatures, conditions, and even being transported to and from locations inside other aircraft or on a flatbed.
Preparing a helicopter for retired life takes a team of experienced government and contract professionals. The de-militarization process for BUNO 358 began March 2023. This grand effort consisting of employees from the program office, VTG, and Clayton International—the small business tasked to preserve and transport the retired helicopter—had hundreds of combined man-years of experience in aviation maintenance and extensive VH-3D hands on experience.
Months of strategic planning and coordination between all the entities culminated in early February when BUNO 358 was ready to make its cross-country trip to its final resting place.
Presidential Helicopter program office sustainment lead Todd Humiston said, “This was an incredibly rewarding effort that was executed by professionalism up and down the chain of command, from the scheduling of all the tasks, demilitarization, transportation, disassembly, reassembly, transportation across the country, the offloading of the aircraft and finally the placing of the aircraft within the museum.”
VTG provided their expert team to ensure the utmost care and consideration went into every detail of the de-militarized aircraft. The integrity of the executive interiors was expertly maintained, and all the helicopter’s parts removed in such a manner as to be replaced with non-serviceable components, displays or covered to give the appearance of a functional cockpit, cabin and exterior.
Clayton International Inc. was responsible for loading the aircraft on their trailer, transporting it to their facility in Georgia, and refurbishment of the exterior and interior of aircraft to the specifications at the time it served President George H. W. Bush.
After the demilitarization process was complete and the aircraft was found to be suitable after inspection, and transported to Clayton International, which was responsible for loading the aircraft on a trailer and then transporting it to its Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility in Georgia.
Clayton International is an expert in aircraft relocation. Once in Clayton’s possession, they completed the intensive restoration and reassembly process along with museum preparations and safety/compliance. This effort included sourcing, cleaning and the reinstallation of executive interior panels, seating, carpeting, even repopulating the cockpit instruments, gauges, controls as they were during the 41st president’s use of the helicopter. Clayton also installed essential dynamic components and did a complete exterior paint before its final transport and relocation to College Station, Texas. On Feb. 27, the retired Marine One, BUNO 358, arrived in College Station, Texas with a police escort motorcade.
Once on site, Clayton completed the offload, reassembly, positioning, and final clean for museum display and lighting.
As for long term sustainment of the helicopter, as it is no longer in flying condition, the National Museum of the Marine Corps will upkeep as necessary.
“This was no easy effort,” said Col. Alex Ramthun, program manager. “The joint team worked hard to coordinate and prepare the retired and restored helicopter for its final resting place at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.”
Final Resting Place
On the evening of June 12, on what would have been President George H. W. Bush’s 100th birthday, in the presence of the Bush family, George and Barbara Bush Foundation CEO Andrew H. Card Jr., and hundreds of donors, the preserved Marine One was unveiled in the new pavilion. The VH-3D Marine One was the backdrop for the evening’s remarks, singing and recognition to the many who made this historic moment all possible.
On June 13, the campus of Texas A&M and the George and Barbara Bush Foundation, and George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened the building to the public for the first time.
Thousands of excited patrons, donors, college alum and more passed through the doors to view the VH-3D, read its displays and learn more about the aircraft’s important part of the 41st president’s history.
“We are proud of be part of this legacy and I am proud to work alongside these talented individuals who constantly impress me with their dedication to this no-fail mission,” Ramthun said.
The Future of Presidential Lift
The venerable VH-3D and VH-60N Marine One helicopters have not stopped their rigorous mission to safely transport the president and heads of state to places near and far. These rugged yet very-reliable and secure aircraft have a meticulous maintenance protocol. Aircraft come in for white glove maintenance and testing then put back into service without missing a scheduled mission.
But all aircraft have a service life and the VH-3D and VH-60N are closing in on their end of mission. Additionally, over time requirements change, capabilities advance and develop, and customer needs change. In May 2014, the program office—the acquisition arm of the helicopter’s mission—with approval from the Navy, awarded Sikorsky Aircraft a contract to build the next presidential helicopter, the VH-92A, a derivative of the commercial S-92. The VH-92A Patriot, with 23 aircraft in its program of record, is nearing the end of production. The VH-92A is in the midst of a phased plan to ensure a smooth, safe and timely transition from the legacy VH-3D and VH-60N aircraft.
Megan Wasel is a public affairs officer with the Presidential Helicopters Program Office. 
Presidential Helicopter Executive Lift Mission and History
The use of the presidential helicopter can be traced back to 1957 when then President Dwight D. Eisenhower first found this mode of transportation essential to get quickly from his current location to the White House. Since then, the importance, speed and practicality of using a helicopter became a routine mode of transportation for all future United States presidents.
The presidential helicopter has evolved since the late 1950s with the first variant being the UH-13J Sioux, then the UH-34 Seahorse. The H-34 replaced the H-13, and by the early 1960s, the VH-3 was introduced. In 1978, the VH-3D entered presidential transport service and in 1987 the VH-60N joined the fleet serving alongside VH-3D to fill out the fleet of presidential and executive lift transport.
HMX-1, while established in 1947 as an experimental test and evaluation unit during the initial years of rotary wing flight, became the squadron to fly the president in 1957. That was because then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower—away on vacation—was urgently needed back at the White House. What would have been a two-hour motorcade trip was reduced to a seven-minute helicopter ride. On that day, HMX-1 earned its most prestigious of missions—direct support of the president. Now, when the president is aboard the HMX-1 piloted ever-reliable Sikorsky VH-3D helicopter, it takes on the name Marine One.
When Bush began use of the executive transport, a VH-3D already in the presidential lift mission since President Gerald R. Ford’s administration was called upon. BUNO 358 carried presidents and heads of state until the helicopter was decommissioned in early 2023.