Lionel Richie’s image on a Chinook is a sign of hope for Western NC residents. Here’s why
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A National Guard unit’s helicopter has a small yet noticeable detail that often brings some levity to people in a dire situation: a sketch of singer Lionel Richie on the tail.
“Every time we’ve gotten out and have been able to talk to people … they laugh, and they all say something,” said Bradley Johnson, a member of Bravo Company 1-171, a National Guard flight crew out of Iowa flying on a CH-47 U.S. Army Chinook, on Thursday. “Especially if they’re older.”
The crew are flying supplies to flood victims in Western North Carolina.
Richie’s face was initially sketched on the tail of the Chinook with “Hello” underneath back in 2011 “as a morale thing,” Johnson said.
“Especially because higher leadership didn’t like it, so of course that was the kind of thing we gravitate towards,” he said.
The aircraft’s call sign — “Night Long” — came fairly quickly after that, Johnson said. Back in 2011, previous members of the unit flew night missions in Iraq, using vision goggles to see.
They “never really saw the day,” Johnson said. “Then it was an easy transition from ‘Hello’ to ‘Night Long,’ and then it became a rallying cry and a morale thing.”
Richie proud to be symbol
Richie was a singer in the Commodores and launched a solo career in 1982, selling millions of albums and recording hit singles. He has won four Grammy Awards.
Although Richie’s song is called “All Night Long (All Night),” the crew had to make it shorter.
“Night Long” is easier to say over the radio, Johnson said.
The Chinook became famous for the singer’s image and Richie himself met with past crew members.
“This is incredible,” Richie said in a 2012 CBS story when he saw the aircraft in person. “I keep waiting to be punked.”
Johnson said when the crew met Richie, the artist said he was proud to be a symbol for them because his father was in the Army.
The crew also has t-shirts with Richie’s face and call sign, and patches and stickers with his image.
Some other units adopted the call sign, Johnson said, including an infantry unit in Kuwait in 2021. But that’s not so unusual, he said.
The guard company is now flying out of Salisbury to Western North Carolina, mainly to deliver supplies.
A reputation to uphold
They average about 14,000 pounds of food and water each mission, said Capt. Karson Smith, a pilot.
They’ve evacuated 34 people so far from a nursing home in Burnsville, North Carolina.
On Thursday, the unit conducted two missions to deliver food and water to residents in Buladean and Poplar, two small towns northeast of Asheville in Mitchell County.
Like other mountain towns, the people living there have been mostly isolated from the rest of the state due to damage to the roads from the storms and a lack of power and phone service.
“We’re trying to do our best,” Smith said.
And while flying a helicopter with Richie’s face on the tail can provide some fun interactions, there is still a reputation to uphold, said Capt. Cody Nolan, one of the two pilots flying the aircraft that day.
“To me, specifically as a company commander, it’s very important that we uphold that reputation and we continue to pull it forward,” Smith said.
It’s something that has not only become an insignia for the unit, Johnson said, but a source of camaraderie and pride.
“We’ve kind of attached ourselves to this legacy,” he said. “We’re all incredibly proud of it.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2024 at 2:53 PM.
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