AFTER flying over the Downs near Petersfield, United States president Joe Biden made a brief stop in Suffolk on his way back to the USA after his trip to Europe.

Mr Biden, the 46th US president, landed at RAF Mildenhall at about 9pm on Saturday so his Air Force One jet could refuel before heading back to America.

Flying in formation with Air Force One on its way back to the United States on March 26, was a US Air Force ‘Doomsday plane’ also known as the ‘Flying Pentagon.’

It was one of three jets carrying the US president and his staff on his visit to Brussels for talks with other world leaders over the Ukraine war.

The planes from Andrews Airforce Base in Washington retraced their incoming flight path on March 23 over Hampshire.

They flew over the New Forest before crossing the Hampshire/West Sussex border between Petersfield and Clanfield, and flying north toward Cambridgeshire to land at Mildenhall.

The doomsday plane is modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet with the call sign Grim99 that in a nuclear war would become the president’s airborne command post.

The aircraft, with its reinforced windows, can remain in the air for days, thanks to its aerial re-fuelling capability.

It also has thermal and nuclear shielding to help withstand the electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear blast.

The aerial war room carries military strategists, analysts and communications aides.

In a worst-case scenario they would help the president through the early days of a nuclear war.

The three-deck aircraft can hold 112 people, has 18 bunks, six bathrooms, briefing room, conference room, work areas and executive quarters.

Washington has maintained a fleet of the £200m planes since the Cold War, with at least one of the massive jets ready to take off 24/7.