Final Air Force One trip for Bush

There are in fact two presidential airliners, referred to as Air Force One when the president is on board

George W Bush has taken his last flight as US president aboard Air Force One.

The plane brought Mr Bush to Washington from Virginia, where he commissioned USS George HW Bush, the navy's newest ship, named after his father.

Mr Bush was joined on the 40-minute flight by family and friends who also attended the commissioning ceremony.

The president told some 10,000 gathered guests and sailors that the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier was "an awesome ship" that honoured "an awesome man".

"So what do you give a guy who has been blessed and has just about everything he has ever needed?" he asked.

"Well, an aircraft carrier."

'Force of nature'

In its short existence, said Mr Bush, the ship had already experienced hard times, including the closure of its shipyard due to a hurricane.

I don't think it had dawned on him that it was his last flight on Air Force One Dana Perino White House spokeswoman

"I brought along an equally strong force of nature, my mother," Mr Bush was quoted as saying by Reuters agency.

But it took the prompting of a reporter for the president to realise the significance of his return flight to Andrews Air Force Base, a spokeswoman said.

"I don't think it had dawned on him that it was his last flight on Air Force One," Dana Perino told reporters on the plane.

After landing at Andrews, outside Washington, Mr Bush spent 30 minutes with members of the plane's support staff, including flight attendants and maintenance workers.

Following the president's final flight, the head of state's state-of-the-art Boeing 747 was towed into a hangar.

Mr Bush leaves office on 20 January when President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States.