Generations of pilots featured in Air Force illustration Published Nov. 17, 2010 By A1C Jack Sanders JBER PAO JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- When it comes to the Air Force in Alaska, the old cliché saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" stands true after Artist Ben Bensen completed his depiction of the arctic warrior entitled "The Heart, Mind and Soul of an Arctic Warrior." Bensen visited Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson this spring, courtesy of the Air Force Reserve, to gather information for his artwork with the 477th Fighter Group. "I'm a commercial illustrator," Bensen said. "That's what I've been doing for 35 years, and as an illustrator I do mostly story boards and ad comps for the ad industry for national accounts like Toyota, Acura and a lot of Pacific Rim car companies." Although most of his work is done in the commercial field, Bensen is no stranger to aviation artwork or working with the Air Force. He said since 1978, he has taken two or, in some cases, three trips a year with the Air Force to visit locations for research for his paintings. "It's a way to get out of the studio," Bensen said. "The Air Force sends me on the trips, and I haven't yet been on a bad one. I guess, I've been on about 50 or 50-plus trips in the last 30-something years." Despite his many trips with the Air Force, the artist's spring trip to Alaska was his first time visiting the 49th state. Bensen said he was given the opportunity to visit a few years before, but neither he nor two other artists working under him, as the chairman for the Southern California area of the contingency of artists, could make the trip at the time. "Steven Walker (a fellow artist) and I were the two that went, and we came out Easter Sunday," Bensen said. "Bless my wife's heart, she was able to just let me go do my thing on Easter Sunday and Stephen didn't have anything better to do. We got there and the place was just dead. "We showed up Monday on time and (Major Lisa Reaver, 477th Fighter Group public affairs officer), bless her heart she came out just happy as can be. She had a whole week's agenda for us, and both of us just thought, 'Man I wouldn't want to live here, this place is just dead.'" "Me, being from New Orleans, its 24 hour craziness there," Bensen continued. "I was just like geez, wow, but by the end of the day on Monday, Lisa had us understanding what it was all about. "She took us all around. We got to meet people at restaurants and places and there were a lot of people and by the end of the week it was like a happening place. Lisa was an incredible tour guide. So, yeah I enjoyed every minute I was out there." Experiencing some of the locals was part of the research the artist used to get his design for his picture. The artist said his fascination for aviation has gone back as long as he can remember. "I grew up in the 50s and plastics were a really cool thing back then," Bensen said. "The jet age was just happening and I lived between two airports. "One was a naval training center, which is now the University of New Orleans, and a local airport that serviced the oil industries so there were a lot of amphibian type planes you know, PBYs and others. "I was exposed to the airplanes from the onset. I couldn't help it, so when you hear those old T6s flying around with that loud noise. It just became a part of my psyche, and I grew up building model airplanes. "(I remember) the box tops back then, the illustrators could really make it look cool. I spent most of my childhood when it wasn't sunny either drawing or making model airplanes. Or drawing birds, I drew a lot of birds. I guess somehow, I was really fascinated with flight." Bensen said, after meeting all the people, he had to mentally change how he saw his picture. "Just listening to everyone and talking to the pilots I'd have to say, it would take a while for me to live in that kind of environment, and everyone there seems to have adjusted to it and love it," Bensen said. "The place is just full of great people that love their lives and love Alaska and just the whole feeling. "That's the reason I wanted to get some kind of Alaskan imagery on the right side of the painting," he continued. "It was because I didn't know how to say Alaska or Anchorage or even Elmendorf. How do you tell any kind of story when you're coming up with an icon or something? "So, the totem pole imagery is a way to say the spirituality and the dedication that these guys have to their jobs just like the Tuskeegee group did in World War II, and they definitely have something to prove. The job they do out there under the circumstances that Alaska presents is pretty incredible." Bensen said he's hoping to get the picture to hang in the 477th Fighter Group's main lobby as, "That's its real home."