For more than a decade, Renny Doyle of Detailing Success and a growing team of elite detailers from around the country have been restoring, maintaining, and preserving the first presidential jet Air Force One. Known as SAM (Special Air Missions) 970, the plane was a flying Oval Office for four U.S. Presidents including Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. The Boeing 707-120 also entertained many international VIPs such as Nikita Khrushchev and Henry Kissinger.
It began with a phone call in 2002 from a Bush administration official asking Renny to bring a team to Seattle's Museum of Flight to clean and attempt to restore the deteriorating paint on the iconic jet. The restoration project started in 2003 with Renny and a small staff.
In 2007, Renny opened up the project to a team of experienced detailers who had been through his certification training. By 2010, the team had grown into a highly specialized and selective team of about 30-35 detailers. This year, the Team numbered 55 due to the scope of other historical restorations and preservations needed at the Museum.
Over the years, the project has grown to include dozens of other iconic aircraft including the Concorde and WWII bombers! Enjoy our story!
Air Force One Detailing Project at Seattle's Museum of Flight
In 2018, Angel Morales was chosen for his 2nd year to the Air Force One Detailing Team at Seattle's Museum of Flight.
2018 marked the 15th year Renny Doyle has taken a crew to the museum where in addition to Air Force One, they also detailed a newly acquired B52 Stratofortress Bomber known as Midnight Express.
Built in 1960, she was a nuclear-armed Cold War platform used extensively during the Vietnam War, and active during Operation Linebacker II in December 1972, which led to the release of 591 prisoners of war in 1973.
Morales and the rest of the team make the weeklong commitment on a voluntary, pro bono basis.
The presidential jet was a flying Oval Office for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. It was in distressed condition when he was first approached by the Bush administration in 2003 to put his skills to work to save it. It took over a decade to fully restore the brilliance of the paint and clarity of the bright work (aluminum).
Until 2016, the plane lived outdoors on the tarmac, exposed to the elements, requiring a robust annual cleaning, polishing, and protection for its paint and aluminum.
These past two years the plane has found a home under the museum’s new open-air Airpark Pavilion. Although it is mostly protected from the elements, it is still exposed to the area’s damp climate and extreme temperatures, requiring a rigorous cleaning, polishing, and application of a paint sealant to protect it from year to year.
Also, on the agenda was polishing the B-29 Super Fortress, a WWII bomber the team began restoring in 2011; cleaning and polishing the first-ever Boeing “Jumbo Jet” 747; polishing the supersonic Concorde Alpha Golf, which they have been working on since 2014; and numerous other priceless aircraft on exhibit at the Museum of Flight. “Cleaning something as big as a jet airplane has its challenges, but when you are cleaning aircraft valued at hundreds of millions of dollars and that have such historical significance, it requires unique skills and knowledge of paint and bright work, not found in most detailers,” says Doyle. “The first time I laid eyes on Air Force One 15 years ago, I doubted whether it could be saved – that is how challenging the project was; however, I see what Angel has done and I know what he can do. He is one of the best.”
“To see Air Force One shining in the sunlight from year to year is a testament to our commitment, hard work, and skill,” says Morales. “I am proud to be a part of this project the past two years and I am excited about tackling that B52 this year! I look forward to many years ahead as a caretaker of aviation history.”
In 2017, Eccentric Shine's Angel Morales was offered a coveted spot on the Air Force One Detailing Team at Seattle's Museum of Flight.
Last year the historic plane moved into a covered open-aired facility in the Museum’s new Airpark Pavilion. As a result, the iconic plane is now in a preservation rather than restoration stage. Angel and the Team must perform an annual detail to remove water streaks from the bright work; to repair blemishes in the paint; and to apply an exterior paint protectant to seal the shine for another year.
Much of the remaining week, Angel worked on numerous other historic airplanes. The Team began cleaning the all-aluminum fuselage of a WWII B29 Superfortress Bomber, but this year the Museum reattached the wings and the Team cleaned and polished them for the first time since the 1940s.
There are still several airplanes in the museum’s collection that need the Team's attention and expertise. They polished the engine rings on the first Jumbo Jet 747; began polishing a 1934 Boeing 247D that had never been detailed; and they continued the slow process of rejuvenating the worn paint on the supersonic Concorde Alpha Golf, which began three years ago.
