Marana, Arizona (CNN) In December 1953, an airplane named the "Columbine II" was on a flight over New York City, identified by air traffic controllers simply as "Air Force 8610." With President Eisenhower on board, it nearly collided mid-air with a commercial airliner also flight-numbered 8610. The near-tragedy prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to designate a call sign for any aircraft that the President of the United States is aboard. The Columbine II became the first Air Force One.

Today it sits on a patch of desert land, where grass struggles and gopher holes dot the arid ground -- baking. And the owner of a Virginia aviation company wants to fly it home.

"It's an airplane with an incredible amount of history," Karl Stoltzfus, the chairman of Bridgewater, Virginia-based Dynamic Aviation said. "At the end of the day it's an airplane that should be preserved for the public to appreciate."

Stoltzfus and his associates have spent weeks in Arizona inspecting the Lockheed Constellation's four engines, cataloging and replacing parts, and trying to determine whether it could ever fly again. They think it can, and last week they committed to purchasing the plane. The asking price was $1.5 million, though Stoltzfus would not confirm the final sale price.

"We want to purchase it and refurbish it and bring it back to Bridgewater [Virginia] and have it for public display," Stoltzfus said.

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