Air Force One... shining a part of American history.

**Joe@Superior Shine** · 03-22-2018, 03:10 PM

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 back ground 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 Clear water, I put together a team and we shined her!!

TEAM SHINE was born!!

We had a ton of fun! She came out gourgous!!

**Joe@Superior Shine** · 03-22-2018, 03:51 PM

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 6inch Yellow Polishing Foam Disc - Meguiars 6 Inch DA Foam Polishing Disc

Meguiars M20501 Ultra Finishing Polish - Meguiars Mirror Glaze #205 Ultra Finishing Polish, final polish, Meguiars polishes, car polish, 205 FP

Rupes Bigfoot 21 - Rupes BigFoot LHR21 MarkII Random Orbital Polisher

and topped for protection, Meguiars D15601 - Meguiars Synthetic X-press Spray Wax, X-press car wax, Meguiars X-press spray liquid wax, D156

As you can see, the results tell no lies;

**MrRoo** · 03-22-2018, 04:02 PM

Awesome work again! I know what it’s like doing airplanes.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Joe@Superior Shine** · 03-22-2018, 04:04 PM

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 acheive this.
Our primary concern was that nobody be injured. Our second was that we do not damage SAM971. Third, that we did an awesome job worthy of a historic aircraft.

**davidc** · 03-22-2018, 04:04 PM

Great save of American History, Thank You.

Dave

**crovello** · 03-22-2018, 04:16 PM

That's awesome! Great work.
That must have taken a lot of elbow grease and a lot of product.
Must seem a little overwhelming when you start a job of that size.

Dave

**Joe@Superior Shine** · 03-22-2018, 04:18 PM

Our least "favorite" portion of SAM971 to polish and protect were her wings!! The wings recieve 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 insuring every square inch was treated properly.

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

Mike Phillips · 03-22-2018, 04:18 PM

Nice work, nice write up with great pictures Joe!

Ugh... I'm tired just looking at all the work that goes into projects this large...

You da man!

**Joe@Superior Shine** · 03-22-2018, 04:31 PM

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!!

**Calendyr** · 03-22-2018, 04:40 PM

I am always amazed at the amount of work a project like this takes. Congrats!

There is one thing that bothers me every time I see a post about polishing large aircrafts like this: Everytime, D156 is used as a LSP... why? This stuff doesn't last. It will give maybe a month of protection.... why spend 100s of man hours on a plane an protect it with a product that has no durability? Should you not be using a long lasting sealant or some kind of ceramic protection instead?