Photo By Tech. Sgt. Kentavist Brackin | The crew of the 89th Airlift Wing’s 3rd Annual African American Heritage Flight pose...... read more read more
Team SAM Fox Airmen participated in multiple events to celebrate black history in aviation and black history in the Air Force by flying missions with black aircrews to inspire minority youth to pursue aviation opportunities. The wing’s black heritage flight event has been growing every year and had more than double the number of wing participants this time, flying in both a C-37B Gulfstream and a C-40B Boeing aircraft, and an Aviation Inspiration Mentorship (AIM) Wing program representative - a relatively new role for the 89th Airlift Wing.
More than 40 Airmen took part in the wing's 3rd Annual Black Aviation Heritage Flight Feb. 15 - 19, showcasing the Special Air Mission airlift.
“We had a solid plan of outreach events we brought to underrepresented areas that do not have a military presence with young folks who may have an interest in flying, and then we wanted to capstone that with the ‘Accelerating the Legacy' event down in Charleston,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Wes Cobb, director of personnel for the 89th Operations Group and coordinator for this heritage flight. “This was a great opportunity for our 89th Airlift Wing members to see the effects of their outreach, the importance of their job and how it matters in the grand scheme of things against other mission sets.”
The first stop of the trip included an outreach event in Houston, Texas, where aircrews spoke to Texas Southern University students and aircraft enthusiasts about aviation opportunities in the Air Force, the different aircrew roles and what DV airlift looks like for America’s top civilian and military leaders. The 89th AW aircrew showed them what safe, comfortable, reliable, connected and protected airlift looks like.
“The outreach was great for the [Aviation Inspiration Mentorship] program,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Brad McElvain, C-40 aircraft pilot assigned to the 1st Airlift Squadron. “We got a chance to go Houston to speak to students from the aviation department at Texas Southern University that were already interested in flying and some were interested in becoming Air Force pilots so I got the chance to talk one-on-one with them and provide some mentorship and expectations of what it takes to become an Air Force pilot.”
McElvain leads 89th AW’s AIM wing program as its director since it started six months ago and coordinates activities similar to the outreach event with TSU in the Joint Base Andrews local area.
AIM is an Air Force-level initiative focusing on improving diversity in rated career fields in the Air Force which include pilot, combat systems officer, air battle manager and remotely piloted aircraft pilot.
The next event was the ‘Accelerating the Legacy’ event at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, Feb. 16-18. This three-day Black History Month Aviation Heritage event was embodied by the theme of “Honor the Past, Develop the Present, and Promote the Future” focusing on community outreach to youth, professional development for aviators and celebrating the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen.
The 3rd annual heritage event, hosted by JB Charleston, has grown to more than 600 Total Force Airmen, U.S. Air Force Academy and Air Force ROTC cadets - nearly ten times its size since it was first held in 2021.
The participating C-37B Gulfstream briefly traveled back to Joint Base Andrews to fly an active mission: deliver Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. and his wife, Mrs. Sharene Brown to JB Charleston to deliver opening remarks at the Legacy Dinner banquet, officially starting the BHM event Thursday, Feb. 16.
“Having one of our aircrews fly CSAF down to the event really showed a lot of individuals first-hand what our mission set is and was a great visual of what the 89th Airlift Wing does daily supporting DV airlift,” Cobb said.
The Legacy Dinner showcased all participants in business professional attire and featured a fireside chat with Brown and retired Lt. Col. James Harvey, one of the last living Documented Original Tuskegee Airmen, moderated by Maj. Saj El-Amin, C-37A/B Gulfstream pilot for the 99th Airlift Squadron.
“I saw CSAF and I nearly fangirled, I was like ‘Oh my god, this is him in the flesh and I actually get to walk up and talk to him’ I'm not just making sure he has good comms or talking on the phone and listening in on the conversation to make sure he has good comms on the aircraft. I can actually talk to him,” said Senior Airman Darian-Ashley Lee, a communications systems operator (CSO) assigned to the 1st Airlift Squadron. “It was the same feeling listening to Colonel Harvey speak. I was like ‘Wow, this man has so much experience to offer’ I'm never going to forget this event. I am a perfectionist and he prided himself on being a perfectionist and he was like ‘what do you mean it's a bad thing to be a perfectionist?’”
McElvain noted the experiences he heard at the dinner helped him bridge the gap with youth later at the Charleston event.
“It was a huge eye-opener for me. I got to personally see a Tuskegee Airman and listen to him speak and really understand - as a white male myself - the legacy Colonel Harvey has left behind for all our current and future aviators was extremely impactful,” he said. “The stories I brought from it I have already been able to use talking to kids using him as an example of someone who has discipline, drive and passion to fly - helping other people understand they can do it too, especially in a world of adversity. Listening and hearing Colonel Harvey’s story was the best training I could have gotten.”
Each Team SAM Fox Airman had their own unique experience of what they took away from the Legacy Dinner.
“My parents are Tuskegee grads so I kind of knew the story of the Tuskegee Airmen from beginning to end, but I learned so much in that fireside chat, connecting with people that I haven’t seen in a while or that I’ve never met before and meeting them and hearing about their experiences,” Cobb said. “It was really good networking, mentoring, and it was good food for the soul.”
The final days of the event included officer and enlisted aviation professional development seminars, an introduction to the SAM Fox mission as part of aviation recruiting efforts, and a minority mentorship session featuring Gen. Mike Minihan, commander of Air Mobility Command, Brig. Gen Konata Crumbly, director of the Joint Chief of Staff and Georgia Air National Guard and Col. Terence Taylor, commander of 27th Special Operations Wing.
At the event's conclusion, Team SAM Fox and other visiting aircrews hosted aircraft tours and offered aviation mentorship to Legacy Flight Academy minority youth before departing JB Charleston.
According to McElvain, one of the biggest obstacles in the past for these types of events is that having a conversation about aviation generally doesn't capture youth’s interest.
“I’m a major and I’m 34 years old, so it can be really difficult to talk to youth due to the generational gap, which makes it hard to connect with them,” he said.
McElvain and others were able to capture youth interest and start conversations about aviation by showing youth video feeds of the inside cockpit of a F-15 via an Oculus Virtual Reality simulation headset at AIM stands in addition to having youth tour and fly on aircraft.
“It starts the conversation of what it is like to fly, what I do as a flier and what progress [the youth] have made towards flying,” he said.
For Lee, one of the most memorable parts of the heritage flight she’ll take away is the feeling of familiarity from the group's time in JB Charleston.
“Being a black female, most of the time I am put in what I call the ‘one and only category.’ I'm the one black person and I might be the only female. When I went to the event, I saw so many people that looked just like me, shared my background and a lot of different cultural aspects of myself that have always placed me apart. In a way it felt like a very big family, and we’d know each other for years to come.” Lee said. “It was really eye-opening, very enlightening, and it truly made me wake up to ‘I'm not alone, I'm definitely valued, I’m appreciated’ and what sets me apart is also my strength, if I allow it to be so.”
For more information about the 'Accelerating the Legacy' event check out the JB Charleston story: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/438774/accelerating-legacy-2023-honors-tuskegee-airmens-legacy-through-aviator-development-student-outreach.
| Date Taken: | 02.20.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 02.28.2023 21:33 |
| Story ID: | 439410 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE ANDREWS, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 204 |
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