Detailing Projects & Air Force One
2019- 1st Year on the Air Force One Detailing Team
Kona’s First Female Detailer Kicks Off Independence Day as New Member of 2019 Air Force One Detailing Team at Seattle’s Museum of Flight
Kona’s first female detailer, Kelly Mankin of Ake Ake Professional Detailing has been hand-picked for the much anticipated 2019 Air Force One Detailing Team at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. She has been selected out of hundreds of detailers nationwide by the original “Detailer of Air Force One”.
Mankin is one of only two females debuting on this year’s team, and one of only four on the overall team.
Mankin received her Detailing Business, Paint Correction, Headlight Repair, and Ceramic Coatings Certification last year, as well as dual certifications (CD SV) from the International Detailing Association (IDA).
Mankin is an experienced automotive and aircraft detailer on the Big Island and is also the Big Island’s distributor for Flex buffers and for P&S Sales who developed the Double Black car care line. Both are sponsors and contributors to the Air Force One project.
For 16 years, members who are chosen for the exclusive Air Force One Detailing Team, do so voluntarily as their patriotic duty to restore, maintain, and protect the original presidential jet Air Force One and more than a dozen additional historic aircraft currently on exhibit in the museum’s new Airpark Pavilion.
In addition to Air Force One, which is currently in preservation stages after 15 years of restoration, the team will continue restoring a solid aluminum WWII B-29 Super Fortress Bomber and a recently acquired and badly deteriorating Vietnam-era B-52G Stratofortress Bomber. They will also clean and continue to maintain the first-ever Boeing “Jumbo Jet” 747; the Concorde Alpha Golf; and the first 1960s-70s-era Boeing 727-022 commercial airliner – all three, planes previous teams have begun restoring in the past 5-10 years.
“I trained Kelly as an expert in all types of paint and helped her perfect her skill at cleaning and polishing paint and metal, so I knew when I chose her for the team this year, she is experienced, qualified, and will do a great job,” said Doyle. “She has an eye for detail and an instinct for perfection that is an absolute ‘must’ for this project, and it will give her an experience she won’t get anywhere else.”
“I certainly never expected to be detailing multi-million-dollar historic airplanes when I got into detailing,” said Mankin. “But getting the opportunity to clean and polish and be caretakers for all these iconic aircraft – especially Air Force One – is something I will not forget! I am honored to have been chosen for the team and it makes the Fourth of July holiday special this year.”