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An artist’s career can rest on the simplest of things. For Keith Ferris, it was an allergic
condition which kept him from becoming a pilot for the Air Force. But he didn’t let that stop him
from making his love of aviation his life. Instead, he channeled his energy and enthusiasm into
becoming an aviation lecturer, historian, model-builder, inventor and artist known for his
scrupulous accuracy of aircraft and events. It also didn’t keep him from flying all over the
world in almost every type of jet aircraft possble. His knowledge of the industry and passion
for sharing the thrill of flight was all in the family. He was the son of an Air Force officer and
grew up on military bases in the U.S. and England. He majored in aeronautical engineering at
Texas A&M University and enrolled in the Air Force ROTC. Since then he has painted for
almost every major defense contractor in America and completed a variety of commissions for
the U.S. Government, both practical and creative. He holds the patents for five air combat
camouflage paint schemes and painted two twenty-five by seventy-five-foot murals for the
Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. He has been
elected a life member of the Society of Illustrators and the Order of Daedalians, the national
fraternity of military pilots. He is Honorary Air Force Art Chairman, past executive vice
president of the Society of Illustrators and founder as well as past president of the American
Society of Aviation Artists.
condition which kept him from becoming a pilot for the Air Force. But he didn’t let that stop him
from making his love of aviation his life. Instead, he channeled his energy and enthusiasm into
becoming an aviation lecturer, historian, model-builder, inventor and artist known for his
scrupulous accuracy of aircraft and events. It also didn’t keep him from flying all over the
world in almost every type of jet aircraft possble. His knowledge of the industry and passion
for sharing the thrill of flight was all in the family. He was the son of an Air Force officer and
grew up on military bases in the U.S. and England. He majored in aeronautical engineering at
Texas A&M University and enrolled in the Air Force ROTC. Since then he has painted for
almost every major defense contractor in America and completed a variety of commissions for
the U.S. Government, both practical and creative. He holds the patents for five air combat
camouflage paint schemes and painted two twenty-five by seventy-five-foot murals for the
Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. He has been
elected a life member of the Society of Illustrators and the Order of Daedalians, the national
fraternity of military pilots. He is Honorary Air Force Art Chairman, past executive vice
president of the Society of Illustrators and founder as well as past president of the American
Society of Aviation Artists.
Keith Ferris
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