It cannot fly itself anymore, so a piece of presidential history rode a truck across two counties on Monday.
A giant on the move
Just after sunrise, crews at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda secured a green Sikorsky VH-3A Sea King to a flatbed and eased it onto surface streets for a roughly 42-mile, three-hour crawl to the March Field Air Museum near Riverside, ABC7 reported. There, an all-volunteer crew will work to undo the wear of years on outdoor display.
What it is
The aircraft is one of a small fleet of VH-3A Sea Kings built for presidential transport, a variant that served from the early 1960s until the mid-1970s, according to the type's history. Under call signs including Marine One and, in its Army-operated years, Army One, the VH-3A carried Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. Nixon Library staff say this helicopter is the one Nixon boarded as he left the White House after resigning in August 1974 — among the most indelible images in modern American politics. That specific provenance comes from library docents; the Herald could not independently confirm from public records that this exact airframe was the one used that day, and presents the claim as the library's account.
Why Riverside, and why now
Years of Southern California sun and marine-layer damp have taken a toll on a machine displayed outdoors. The March Field Air Museum's leadership framed the loan as both a conservation project and a chance for Inland Empire residents to stand beneath a presidential aircraft up close. The restoration is expected to take several months, after which the helicopter is slated to remain on display at March Field for at least a year before returning to Yorba Linda.
A short trip, slowly taken
The convoy threaded from Yorba Linda onto the freeways and east toward Riverside, unhurried by design given its cargo. Among those who came to watch it go were longtime visitors who had stood beside the helicopter many times at the library — a reminder that even a stationary museum piece can, now and then, make a little history of its own simply by moving.
