Erika Colligan
Khoi Phan, a pilot who trained at Lackland Air Force Base in the early 1960's is seen with his brush and canvas. Phan, who was a self-taught artist was known at the time for giving away his works of art. Fifty years later - his daughter, Erika Colligan has made it her mission to find any of her dad's creations. Erika was only one years old when her father passed away and hopes locating one of his paintings will draw her closer to her dad.









It was 1962 and a young Vietnamese man was far away from home, his days spent soaring the skies above San Antonio training to become a fighter pilot at Lackland Air Force Base.
Once out of his flight suit, Khoi Phan would trade the stick and rudder for a canvas and brush, his work captivating anyone who saw it.

Fifty years later, there's one woman who would give anything to see Phan's artistry: his daughter Erika Colligan.
"I don’t know why there is this great calling, and why I need to find them," she says. "But I really just need to see them."

Longing for any connection to her father, Erika has made it her mission to track down just one piece of his handiwork.

"These paintings probably mean nothing to anybody and could be lost or sitting in an attic somewhere," she says.
Phan's work was known around the Lackland community in '62 because his joy was not only creating beautiful works of art, but also in giving them away.

"If I can get any paintings, that would mean a lot," Erika pleads. "They mean a lot to me because that’s something that he did - that he touched."

Erika never really knew her father's touch.

In 1965, Khoi Phan's jet would come crashing down in Vietnam, leaving behind a one-year-old girl without any real memory of her dad.

"We talk about it all the time, and it's really my passion," she says. "Ultimately, everything died with him."

Meanwhile, Erika survives on a handful of faded photos and holds onto hope that someone from San Antonio will remember her father.

"He was abnormally tall," she laughs. "A very good looking man, very smart and very generous to my understanding...I don't think anyone could forget him."

- Or his art.

Khoi Phan was known to paint pictures of people, possibly sunflowers, and Erika believes her father's love of aviation also spilled over into his art.

She hopes someone who was lucky enough to be blessed with one of her father's creations will at least let her see it, if not take it home.

"I want to touch it," she says. "I have a calling that he would want me to find it."

Erika Colligan is a worldwide software consultant living in San Diego, California. She asks anyone with information on her father's paintings to email her at ecolliga2000@yahoo.com