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I noticed there are at least 3 x E-6 aircraft flying at present (call signs: MAYO38, NANA67, and one more which may have landed before I grabbed it), along with an E-4B.

These aircraft are said to house Military Generals and other important people during times of nuclear escalation.

Is it common for there to be 3 or more E-6 aircraft airborne at the same time?

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    $\begingroup$ I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you. $\endgroup$
    – FreeMan
    Commented Mar 1, 2022 at 16:18
  • $\begingroup$ With 16 aircraft, I would expect you could easily have 2 in the air (2nd goes up before 1st comes down so that one is always literally in the air) and then a 3rd go up for training or for flight testing after maintenance, transfer to a new base or whatever. $\endgroup$
    – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
    Commented Jun 2, 2023 at 16:15

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Simpleflying reports that

The United States Navy has a fleet of 16 E-6s and has typically at least one of them in the air at all times. It is also not uncommon to see two or three in the air at the same time.

More materially, that report also quotes a 2020 Oct 2 tweet with diagrams showing that E-6A AE0414

was publicly tracked on 20 out of the past 31 days

and that E-6A EA0415

was publicly tracked on 18 out of the past 31 days.

That's not quite three at once, but if two of them are publicly trackable for more than half the days of a month, it's plausible that some of the other fourteen were also airborne then.

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