What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

[Superior Shine]

What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

I've been shining paint since the early 1980s. I've had my own business shining paint since 1990. I absolutely adore my job. I've been blessed to shine the paint on many amazing things such as most models of the world's exotic supercars, multi-million dollar classics, vintage aircraft and presidential transports.

Recently I lead a team to polish, for the second time, a Boeing VC-137B, Special Air Mission 971.


Towards the end of President Eisenhower's term in 1958, the Air Force added three Boeing 707 aircraft into the presidential fleet. They were designated as VC-137s and referred to by Special Air Mission "SAM" and the last three digits of their tail numbers, 970, 971, and 972.

All three sister aircraft were used as Air Force One, which is the call sign of the aircraft when it is transporting the president of the United States.


I've had the honor of polishing SAM970, which on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Wa., a couple of times.







After detailing SAM970 I set out to locate the other two aircraft. Unfortunately, SAM972 had been retired and scrapped years ago. I feared SAM971 had fallen under the same fate.

SAM971 seen here, in the background in her early 1960s white and orange livery, behind President Kennedy.



To my relief, I did find SAM971 on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Az.

I soon found out that she not only had served as an Air Force One but she had flown under the call sign, "FREEDOM ONE" twice. 1980 she was dispatched to retrieve Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days. She flew under FREEDOM ONE again 10 years later when she brought home American prisoners of war from Operation Desert storm.



She had been retired in the early 90s and had been on display since. She was dirty, her paint was badly faded but I knew we could save her and restore the finish.




So, in 2015 with the help of AutoGeek, Meguiars and a client of mine, Gary Johnson of Ace Clearwater, I put together a team and we shined her!!

TEAM SHINE was born!!









We had a ton of fun! She came out gorgeous!! You can read more about the 2015 event here - https://meguiarsonline.com/forums/sh...69-Freedom-One

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

Fast forward to 2018, it had been three years since we shined SAM971. I knew she was sadly over-due for a "wash and wax" but hoped she wasn't too bad.
I contacted the Museum and offered our services again. They were eager to have us out. I put together a team to gather in Az to polish her finish again.















Her finish wasn't nearly as faded as she was when we first found her but it still needed lots of TLC to get her back to her presidential status. Here is a photo of a "50/50" of a fully correction portion versus an area that is slightly weathered.



Our combination to shine and protect her finish was the same we used last time.....

Meguiars Yellow 6 Inch DA Foam Polishing Disc

Meguiars Mirror Glaze #205 Ultra Finishing Polish

Rupes BigFoot LHR21 MarkII Random Orbital Polisher

and topped for protection, Meguiars D15601 - Meguiars Synthetic X-press Spray Wax.

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

Polishing paint is polishing paint, be it an automobile or aircraft. The fundamentals are the same. The challenging aspect of this type of project is how to safely reach every inch of the aircraft.
We used scissor lifts, a boom and various ladders and mobile stairways to achieve this.
Our primary concern was that nobody get injured. Our second was that we do not damage SAM971. Third, that we did an awesome job worthy of a historic aircraft.

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

Our least "favorite" portion of SAM971 to polish and protect were her wings!! The wings received a constant beating from the sun and other damaging elements. They are tough to do being that they are horizontal. Most of it has to be done while working on your hands and knees. The work is painfully tedious.
It is also is the least "glorious" portion of the aircraft, the nose and tail being the most.

My hats off to my team for ensuring every square inch was treated properly.









Here is a "50/50" photo of a treated and untreated portion of the wing.

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

The nose and the tail our are favorite areas of Freedom One to work on. The areas are easily identifiable and look get in photos.




Being way up high on a boom working on the tail is extra exciting as it bobs around in the wind!!

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

The second night working on SAM971 we were in THE ZONE! Her finish was starting to come around. Even though we had already worked a good 8+ hour day, we decided to stay late and keep shining away.





Little did we realize that there would be no lights around us. As the sun dimmed the lights under the roof seemed to grow brighter, the high-intensity lights highlighted the brilliant finish that she now proudly displayed.

It was surreal and made for amazing photos!




We took advantage of this opportunity to take a team photo. Look at her smile!!




I love and greatly respect all these guys. Remember, this is an all volunteer gig.
From bottom right to left... Jason, Ryan, Felix, David, Robert, John, Luke, A.J., Chris, Paul...upper level are Andrew and myself. (Hey....What is that resting on my shoulder... more about that later.) Not in the pic, Cougar and Chris J.

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

We had allotted 5 days to complete the project. By mid-day of day three, we had most of her shined up. Other than a few guys up top tying up loose ends, I was running out things for the team to do.
The Pima Air and Space Museum is an amazing place. It is huge! I knew they had another aircraft on display out in their field that I took notice of. It was very dirty and very badly faded.

Allow me to introduce you to the Lockheed VC-140B Jet Star.



In 1961, the U.S. Air Force acquired six Lockheed VC-140B JetStars to transport the President, high-ranking government officials and other heads of state. The Jet Stars were used to operate on runways that were too small for the much larger VC-137 and were used for short trips. The VC-140B provided fast and economical travel for several US presidents. Whenever the president was aboard, these small jets flew under the radio call sign Air Force One.

This baby bird was badly faded. People were using their fingers to write graffiti in the chalky finish. This upset me greatly!




I informed the Museum that we were ahead of schedule. Rain was expected later that day. I told them if they would be so kind as to pull the Jet Star out of the field and under the roof, we'd shine it as well. They were more than happy to accomadate us.



First order of business... wash her up!



and then..... the test spot!!



We determined that the same products and processes we used for Freedom One will be best for the JetStar as well.

Shortly after the wash the museum crew tucked "baby bird" up near "mama bird." As part of the team was finishing up SAM971, others started on the Jet Star.

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

It is always a treat to polish up Ol' Glory. I did a large portion of the American flag on the VC-137 and had the honor of polishing up the Flag on one side of the Jet Star's tail.



Faded.....




Polished.....




At the end of the day on day four, we were tired!! We felt a great sense of accomplishment though. We had not just polished Freedom One but we shined a presidential Jet Star as well!!

"Baby bird" looked amazing. She still needed just a little bit of work on her tail the next morning but we were just about done!!





Here is a photo comparing the faded finish to the fully corrected paint. We found M205 had plenty of correction ability as well as nourishing the finish.




They looked beautiful together!!! It was amazing to see this in person!

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

Let me warn you about something.... When you have a group of hard-charging, motivated and dedicated detailers sitting around eating pizza and drinking beer, with not much to do the next day, ideas start flowing........



"Fellas," I said, "You know there is a VC-118 sitting out in that yard?"

Daily, we ate at the museum cafe. We'd have to walk across the display yard every day at lunchtime and pass by a Douglas VC-118. This aircraft flew as Air Force One as well. We'd look at it and think, "maybe one day we'll shine her."



President Kennedy...



President Johnson and Robert Kennedy...

https://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2748/medium/bw_pic.jpg

By this time in the week it had been raining for two days. The Az sand which is like concrete when dry turns to mush when wet. We couldn't bring the bird to us. We'd have to go out to here in the yard.

Knuckleheads had written graffiti on her as well in the aluminum and faded paint.





It was drizzling out. We steadied our ladders best we could in the mud and got to cleaning.









She could have used more work but we did the best we could given the circumstances. She looked much improved, was happy and loved us for it.

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

Just before the Freedom One project, I made a new friend, Brenda. Brenda was the only female crew member on the first Freedom One flight. She was nice enough to send me a few pics from that time.








Here are photos of Freedom One and Brenda 38 years apart... they both are just as lovely as ever. Of course, we had to send her a team hoodie!!

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

Ultimately this was an amazing week!! We shined three Air Force Ones and I got to work side by side with some really great detailers!




The personalized plates on my van read: "AF1DTLR." I have another van that could use personalized plates. I was thinking maybe: "FREEDOM1"






Lots of good people had to come together to pull a project like this off. I have to thank the crew in the restoration hangar at the Pima Air and Space Museum. They were so nice and helpful. Our sponsors... AUTOGEEK, Meguiars and Gary Johnson at Ace Clearwater are the BEST!! Without their help this wouldn't have happened.

THANK YOU!

[Superior Shine]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

An absolute highlight of the event was being presented a FREEDOM ONE commemorative polisher by the team!! I received one as well as Jason Rose.














I even used it to polish an area on SAM971. That's real Air Force One paint on there!

I have a large polisher collection that includes many vintage and commemorative machines. This polisher will be the jewel of the bunch.

[Nick Winn]

Re: What would you use to polish and protect a piece of American History?

EPIC. Thanks for sharing and we are happy to support!