Colonel Gene Boyer
As a former presidential helicopter pilot, Retired Master Army Aviator Colonel Gene Boyer has witnessed history from a unique vantage point. Born in Akron Ohio, he graduated from Ohio University before embarking on his distinguished 22- year career in the United States Army. Ranked in the top 10 percent of his Officer’s Candidate class, he served as a medical evacuation pilot in Korea. After his discharge from the Army and during the helicopter’s coming-of-age era, he launched a private sector career with New York Airways and as a bush pilot in Venezuela doing oil survey work.
In 1958, with the demand for helicopter service increasing faster than the availability of qualified pilots, Colonel Boyer accepted an invitation back to active duty with the Army and was assigned to the OIC Rotary Wing Section, Headquarters, US European Command in Paris, France where he eventually assumed operational control of SHAPE (a NATO sub-unit) transporting allied forces dignitaries throughout Europe.
Four years later, Colonel Boyer joined the Presidential Flight Unit. In 1966, he served a one-year tour of duty in Vietnam before returning to the White House unit. Logging in excess of 7,000 hours flight time, including 276 combat hours in Vietnam, he flew more than 500 presidential missions as Pilot in Command for presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, former president Eisenhower and future president Reagan, and nearly 30 other heads of state. Highly decorated, his awards include the Legion of Merit Award for Service to Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Ford, Two Distinguished Flying Crosses with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army-wide Aviation Safety Award and the Air Medal for Valor with six Oak Leaf Clusters.
Colonel Boyer retired from the Army in 1975 and became Director of Marketing for Hughes Helicopter and Lockheed Aircraft Service. Subsequently, his more than 40 trips to the Middle East and Africa endowed him with an intimate awareness of that region’s politics and perils – an awareness that remains astutely current. In recent years, Colonel Boyer coordinated the extraordinary restoration of Nixon’s Presidential helicopter and is a frequent guest speaker for schools, military and service groups.
FAQs
LTC Gene T. Boyer, Retired Master Army Aviator
Residence: Southern California
Age: 79
Years of Military Service: 20+
Total Flight Time: 6,900 (helicopter); 117 (fixed wing); 368 helicopter hours were in combat and close to 1,000 hours with a president on board.
Number of Presidential Missions: 578 (451 for Nixon and 54 for visiting heads of state)
Notable Passengers: General William Westmoreland, Henry Kissinger, Anwar Sadat, Hosni Mubarak, King Hussein, Charles de Gaulle, Robert Kennedy, Nguyen Van Thieu, Leonid Brezhnev, John Steinbeck, Bob Hope, John Wayne and Winnie the Pooh.
Decorations: Distinguished Flying Cross w/1 Oak Leaf Cluster (OLC); Soldier’s Medal; Bronze Star Medal; Air Medal w/ “V” and 6 (OLC); Army Commendation Medal; National Defense Service Medal w/1 (OLC); United Nations Service Medal; Master Army Aviator Badge; Meritorious Emblem w/1 (OLC); Ranger Tab; Presidential Service Badge; Vietnam Service Medal; Vietnam campaign Medal; Parachutist Badge.
When did you start flying helicopters?
In 1954. During the 1950s, I flew MASH helicopters in Korea then left the Army in 1957 to fly shuttles for New York Airways and Dutch-Shell Oil survey helicopters in South America. I returned to the Army in 1959 and was eventually assigned to fly VIPs in France. One memorable mission was to fly General Dwight Eisenhower and CBS reporter Walter Cronkite during a documentary of the 20th anniversary of D-Day.
How long did you fly for the White House?
About 10 years. In 1963, I received orders to join the White House Executive Flight Detachment in Washington, D.C. Two years later, I was sent to Vietnam where I commanded a Chinook Company at An Khe. When I returned in 1967, the Army unit had been moved to Texas to support the LBJ Ranch and long distance trips. Shortly after Nixon took office in 1969, I became the president’s senior pilot and commanding officer for the Army unit, which was moved back to Washington, D.C. I retired in 1975.
What are some major milestones in your career?
I piloted Nixon off the White House lawn the day he resigned in Army One and commanded the mission for his trip to Vietnam where I flew him into a combat zone to visit troops. Other significant trips included the first helicopter landing in St. Peter’s Square with Nixon; transporting First Lady Pat Nixon on a humanitarian mission into Peru; flying Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Richard Nixon to the pyramids;
and spearheading the restoration of Nixon’s last flight helicopter now on exhibit at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.
What is the most common misunderstanding about White House helicopters?
The Marines were not the first to fly a sitting president and were not the only branch of the military to serve the White House. The Air Force, on July 12, 1957, was the first branch of the service to fly a president during a White House evacuation drill called “Operation Alert.” The Army Executive Flight Detachment was established in January of 1958 and the Marines were brought in a few months later. The Army and the Marines shared the White House mission from 1958 to 1976. If an Army pilot was at the controls of the Navy-owned helicopter with the president on board, it became Army One. If a Marine was the pilot it became Marine One. During its years of service, the Army handled most overseas flights. In what remains a politically charged controversy, the Army unit was deactivated in 1976 and the Marines gained full control of the White House helicopter fleet.
