From aviation to art: Canvassing the sky

  • Published
  • By Sonic Johnson
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs Officer
COLUMBUS AFB, Miss. --  The latest donation to the Air Force art collection was unveiled here April 3. "A Rite of Passage" by aviation artist Keith Ferris was presented at the retirement ceremony of the T-37B trainer from Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training. 

The painting started in late June of 2007 when Ferris visited Columbus AFB and flew a T-37 Tweet formation training sortie. Air Education and Training Command officials requested Ferris' participation in the painting in anticipation of the aircraft's retirement. 

Ferris is no stranger to the tweet. His first T-37 painting "Over the Numbers" showed a T-37 sporting its high-visibility orange paint at Webb AFB, Texas, were he first flew the Tweet in May of 1963. Ferris went on to develop a new paint scheme on the T-37 to make it visible to the pilots using scientific concepts of high contrast rather than the near-fluorescent orange. The current paint scheme is Ferris' design was introduced in September 1987 and is still flown on the aircraft today. 

"This painting captures the more than 50 years of heritage the T-37 has in training Air Force aviators," said Lt. Col. David Johnson, 37th Flying Training Squadron commander. The 37th FTS was the last squadron in Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training to fly the T-37B. While the T-6 Texan II has replaced the T-37 in SUPT, it will still be used in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program at Sheppard AFB, Texas. 

According to Russell Kirk, Director of the Air Force Art Program, "the United States Air Force Art Program and the beginning of its extensive collection of aviation art began in 1950 with the transfer from the U.S. Army of some 800 works of art documenting the early days of the Army Air Corps." 

"The USAF Art Collection documents the story of the Air Force through the universal language of art" continued Kirk. "The actions and deeds of Air Force men and women are recorded in paintings by eminent American artists in a way words alone could never tell. These paintings are both historical and educational and expose the military and public to the role and diverse capabilities of the United States Air Force." 

According to the Air Force Art Program web site, artwork produced from officially sponsored trips are "donated" to the U.S. Air Force--usually as outright "gifts to the Government"--accepted on behalf of a grateful nation and Air Force by the Secretary of the Air Force. Societies review works of their members before offering them as gifts. The "formal" presentation of artwork took on all the glamour of a New York society art show, as the Societies (then later the Air Force) hosted a formal "Art Presentation" every even year to unveil and exhibit their works to be donated to the service. 

"I normally don't paint pictures of airplanes" remarked Ferris. What I like to do is I paint what it feels like to fly. Going out and flying this formation training flight [last June], I thought I would show what it felt like to do that." The latest piece of art is Ferris' 60th donation to the USAF Art Program in his 48 years of participation in the program and represents nine months of work by Ferris. "A Right of Passage" joins more than 10,000 pieces of art in the Air Force Art Program. More information on the USAF Art Program can found at www.afapo.hq.af.mil.