By Neil Munro The U.S. Air Force is pulling nine cargo aircraft from military operations to support President Barrack Obama’s stepped-up visits to campaign events.

The five medium-capacity C-130s and four heavyweight C-17s will be used to ferry security vehicles, armored limousines and communications gear into cities ahead of Obama’s campaign appearances.

In the months before November, the president is expected to fly into multiple cities per week, and speak at multiple sites per day. On Mar. 8, for example, the president will fly to Richmond, and then drive over to a Rolls-Royce aircraft-parts factory. That evening, he’ll fly down to Houston, Texas.

His wife, the Vice President and many of his cabinet secretaries are using the Air Force’s fleet of VIP aircraft to visit more states as the election season speeds up.

The nine cargo aircraft will begin operations in April, said Maj. Michelle Lai, communications officer for the Air Force’s 89th Airlift Wing. “They’ll stand down in November 2012,” she said.

The Air Force allocated extra aircraft to support President George W. Bush when he was running for reelection in 2004, she added.

Currently, the aircraft “already belong to other [Air Force] units,” said Lai. “They’re continuing to fly troops or supplies into the [Middle East] theater or across the country.”



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