Inside the last Boeing 707 to serve as Air Force One: See Reagan's jet that marked the end of an era

Before the gleaming 747s that now ferry U.S. presidents across oceans, there was a smaller, sleeker jet that carried the weight of the free world. 

The last Boeing 707 to serve as a primary Air Force One - the aircraft that once flew President Ronald Reagan, plus six other American presidents - now sits under a striking glass pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

"This was the last 707 that was used as a primary aircraft as Air Force One," said David Trulio, president and CEO of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. "Subsequent to President Reagan, it was a 747."

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Reagan flew the 707, tail number SAM 27000, more than any other president, and it remained in the presidential fleet until it was decommissioned in 2001, taking its last flight just three days before the Sept. 11 attacks. 

During his presidency, however, Reagan ordered the modernization of Air Force One to the larger, more advanced 747s as the primary aircraft. 

The transition from the 707-based VC-137s to the 747 fleet took place in 1990, according to the U.S. Air Force, a year after Reagan's term ended, and expanded the aircraft's range, communications capabilities and comfort.

Ironically, Reagan himself never flew aboard the newer jets he had commissioned, Trulio said.

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Yet he traveled to 26 countries, covering 660,000 miles aboard SAM 27000 - a jet that held roughly half as many passengers as today's Air Force One, which can accommodate about 102 people, according to Boeing.

The 707 also shuttled Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

When the Reagan Library learned the plane was going to be decommissioned, it sought to honor the 40th president's wish to have it placed permanently in the space where he would later be laid to rest.

Boeing, the plane's manufacturer, collaborated with the Reagan Library to transport and reassemble the aircraft. The 707 was disassembled and towed to the library site. As the pavilion was constructed, each piece was brought inside and rebuilt within the building itself.

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This year, the Air Force One Pavilion celebrated its 20th anniversary. Since opening to the public in October 2005, nearly seven million visitors have stepped aboard Air Force One 27000. 

The three-story pavilion also features a Marine One helicopter, Reagan's 1984 presidential limousine and an authentic Irish pub from his ancestral village of Ballyporeen, Ireland. A sweeping mural, "History of the Flying White House," traces presidential air travel from its beginnings with FDR to the present day.

Over the past two decades, the pavilion has been used for everything from educational programs and international summits to presidential and even high school debates. 

The Reagan Library's digital reach has grown tremendously, Trulio said, now topping 1.8 million followers across platforms as it expands access to its exhibits and events for audiences worldwide.

When visitors enter and see the massive aircraft, slightly tilted to give the illusion of takeoff and framed by floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Simi Valley hills, their first reaction is to gasp, Trulio said.

"It's a really remarkable, very living piece of history," he told Fox News Digital. 

"Any one of our visitors can come and buy a ticket and actually go onto the plane and see exactly where the president, his staff, the press corps, the Secret Service and so on used it as a working, flying office."

The plane is the top attraction for visitors to the Reagan Library, Trulio noted.

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It looks the same as it did 20 years ago, he added. While it was once state of the art, its rotary phones and mid-century decor are a blast from the past for visitors today. 

"To us, they look a little '80s," Trulio said.

Unlike modern planes, Reagan's was not the "cushiest," he added. "There's a conference room, there are perfectly comfortable chairs - but the current Air Force One has bedrooms. This one doesn't."

Still, it was a vehicle of face-to-face diplomacy, helping to shape global history and continuing to teach lessons that resonate today.

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After his first meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva during the Cold War, for example, Reagan remarked, "So, face-to-face talks can be helpful."

Trulio said there are "tremendous parallels" between Reagan's era and today. 

"History, it's been said, rhymes. And if you think of the '70s going into the '80s, that was a period of economic challenge, high inflation, we were competing with a communist regime with global ambitions, and there was a sense that maybe America's best days were behind us," he said.

"President Reagan was an unquestionably successful president," he continued. "It's inspiring but also deeply instructive to draw on those successes as we ponder the challenges and the opportunities that we face today."