FishHawk Resident Serves on Elite Air Force One Detailing Team

Air Force One is a prominent symbol of the American presidency and its power. With the primary mission being to transport the president, Air Force One has become the most famous and most photographed aircraft in the world.

Recently, FishHawk Ranch resident Dan Jansen, owner of Magic Touch Auto Salon, joined an elite team of detailers that traveled to Seattle, Wash., to restore two historic paragons in U.S. aviation history – the first Air Force One Boeing 707-120, known as SAM (Special Air Missions) 970 and a rare WWII B29 Bomber, known as T-Square 54 – both of which are on exhibit at The Museum of Flight, one of the world’s largest air and space museums, attracting more than 400,000 visitors each year.

Delivered in 1959, presidents including Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower and Nixon were transported on this flying Oval Office with modified interior and sophisticated communication equipment. In 1962, SAM was replaced by a newer Boeing VC-137C but remained in the presidential fleet until June 1996.

“It was a great honor to be part of such an elite team of detailing professionals, and to take part in restoring and preserving two very historic and important aircrafts,” said Jansen.

The elite team made up of 40 hand-picked professionals was chosen by project coordinator Renny Doyle, owner of Attention to Details in Big Bear Lake, Calif., out of a pool of more than 200 to represent the most skilled detailers in the world.

According to Jansen, Doyle picked his top students based on level of skill and success in the detailing field. This was Jansen’s first Air Force One detailing team experience. However, he was also selected back in 2008 but could not take time away from his business as he was a one-man show at the time.

Prior to opening Magic Touch Auto Salon in 2004, Jansen worked in corporate America in healthcare staffing.

“I had a passion for cars for as long as I can remember,” admitted Jansen. “I simply learned what I enjoyed doing [at Attention to Detail], then found a way to make money at it.”

Jansen specializes in detailing high-end automobiles, RVs, boats and aircraft.

It takes the cream of the crop to deliver the workmanship necessary for restoring Air Force One. According to Jansen, more than 3,000 man-hours of aluminum polishing went into the project over the course of eight days.

“We were behind the ropes of the museum so we were sort of like part of the exhibit with our equipment and tools and all of us crawling over the planes while tours filed by,” said Jansen. “It was a very dirty job, but it was an honor to be part of it.”