Putting the 'art' in Barton

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Kent Kagarise
  • 442nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Tech. Sgt. Chris Barton has always loved art.

As a child, Barton said his mother would spend hours teaching him how to draw straight lines and circles without rulers or compasses. Today, that talent has allowed him to leave a mark on every A-10 Thunderbolt II assigned to the 442nd Fighter Wing here.

"It's always been a hobby for me," said Barton, who is assigned to the 442nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. "My family was very artistic, and I always enjoyed art in high school, so when people started saying they wanted nose and door art, I picked up a brush."

Today, pilots and crew chiefs come up with the inspiration for the door art based on their personalities and the plane's history. These ideas are relayed to Barton who uses their vision to begin drawing.

"I work with them to come up with a rough draft that needs the commander's approval," Barton said. "Once the art has been approved, I take the door home, draw the design on tape, cut it out in sections and then layer the paint."

Barton said it takes him about 40 hours to complete the art. Over the years he has learned different ways of painting as each door, he said, brought a new experience to his artistic style.

"I've gone more to airbrush versus hand-painting because this allows the art to be more three-dimensional and just looks cleaner. In the past there'd have been a lot of visible brush strokes," Barton said.

Barton said he is most proud of his art depicting a joker from a deck of playing cards on the door of the first A-10 he had with the wing.

While it was his favorite, it wasn't the most difficult, he said.

"Tail number 118 has a demon stepping through fire. I had never done flames and smoke before, so it was really rewarding to see I had captured the true three-dimensions of the image," said Barton.

In the finished product, "indestructible" is written under the demon holding the landing gear control panel.

The art holds a special meaning for the jet's dedicated crew chief, Staff Sgt. Robert Bagby.

"My aircraft has belly-landed twice and been hit by a bomb," Bagby said. "It once took four months to put the plane back together after a landing gear control panel malfunction, but it's still flying."

Bagby's 15-year-old son shares his father's enthusiasm for the band, "Disturbed" and said they used an album cover for the initial inspiration of the door.

"Their music is really harsh and heavy. I feel like their sound really captures the feeling of an A-10" Bagby said.

What Barton said he likes most about A-10 door art is how it boosts morale, pride and allows a pilot and crew to display that pride in the aircraft they work on every day.

For Airman 1st Class Zach Southard, 442nd AMXS crew chief, choosing a door would be a milestone moment in his career as it means he would be the primary crew chief -- and caretaker -- of a particular jet.

"It's far down the line but I think it'd be cool to personalize a jet," Southard said. "That's a special moment when a crew chief gets to that place in his career."