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. 

"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."

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

"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."

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.

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