Deployed Airmen honor Tuskegee great with nose art

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) --  A member of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing created a nose art display on an RQ-4 Global Hawk recently in honor of Lt. Col. Lee Archer, a World War II fighter pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen.

But it all started with Tech. Sgt. Jason Aucoin, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing ground safety manager at an air base in Southwest Asia, who initiated the idea to honor Colonel Archer who died Jan. 27 at the age of 90 in New York City. Upon hearing the news, Sergeant Aucoin recalled when he met Colonel Archer and decided to see if something could be done.

"I was lucky enough to meet Colonel Archer last year at the Tuskegee Airmen Convention in Las Vegas and was moved by his and all the Tuskegee Airmen's story," said Sergeant Aucoin, who is assigned to the 380th AEW for a year.

"Wanting to pay my respects and show the family what he meant to the Air Force, I decided to e-mail all the base organizations (asking for) any suggestions," said Sergeant Aucoin, whose hometown is Hollywood, Fla. "My idea is to have the base populace sign memorial cards to pay their respects at the dining facility, which we are going to still do. Our wing command chief, Chief (Master Sgt. Suzan) Sangster came up with the idea to do the art on the aircraft and put me in contact with our deployed Global Hawk unit that ran with the chief's idea."

Once the idea reached the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's Global Hawk maintainers, Staff Sgt. Michael Middleton stepped in to carry the idea to fruition.

"It has been years since I have even thought about drawing, but when I was given the opportunity from my leadership, I was not going to let this opportunity pass," said Sergeant Middleton, who is also assigned to the 380th AEW for a year.  "Colonel Archer and all the Tuskegee Airmen paved the way for all African-Americans who strived to succeed despite the odds. Their stories and life lessons are for everyone to carry forward and build on." 

Sergeant Middleton said that he had two inspirations for his chalk nose art piece for the Global Hawk. First was the Tuskegee Airmen's 332nd Fighter Group patch that was displayed on the jacket of one of the original Tuskegee Airmen during the memorial ceremony for Colonel Archer. The second part of his design inspiration came from the Distinguished Flying Cross which Colonel Archer received.  

"If anyone knows the Tuskegee Airmen's patch, then at your first glance you would recognize the representation of it and also combining his Distinguished Flying Cross just felt like the right way to honor him," said Sergeant Middleton, whose hometown is Savannah, Ga.

The end result was a representation honoring Colonel Archer and the Tuskegee Airmen as a whole. The RQ-4 holding the chalk drawing also took it for a ride over a combat zone in Southwest Asia. It flew on a historic combat mission Feb. 10 just like Colonel Archer did 169 times during World War II flying cover and escorting long-range bombers over more than 11 countries.

"The nose art was part of the mission where deployed RQ-4s surpassed 30,000 combat flying hours," Sergeant Middleton said. "It was a fitting tribute to a hero like Colonel Archer."

The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system with an integrated sensor suite that provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, capability worldwide.