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Fretts
in front of an Army Reserve UH-60A Black Hawk.
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Aviation
has always been very important in
the life of Paul Fretts. From his early life in Pennsylvania
through the present day, aviation has had a great impact on
both Paul's life and art. Paul's father, a fighter pilot in
World War II, and his mother, an accomplished artist in her
own right, supplied an additional influence on the direction
his life would take.
Enlisting
in the Army in 1965, at age eighteen,
Paul graduated as a Warrant Officer from U. S. Army flight
training. He then went on to serve two tours of duty in Viet
Nam accumulating a total of 1600 hours of combat flight time
flying UH-1D's with the 162nd AHC, and on a subsequent tour
with the 205th ASHC flying CH-47A's. He was also the recipient
of the Purple Heart, Bronze Star for Valor, and Air Medal
with 33 oak leaf clusters.
Stateside
assignments included Fort Meade, MD with the 6th ACR and
an assignment as a flight instructor in the CH-47 Chinook
at the U. S. Army Aviation Center, Fort Rucker, Alabama. Leaving
the Army in 1975, Paul worked for several years as a commercial
artist. He continued his aviation career in the Army Reserve,
retiring in 1996, after having flown the UH-1H Huey and the
UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.
Currently Retired, Paul's full-time job had been that of a civilian
flight instructor at the U. S. Army Aviation Center flying
both the UH-1H and the TH-67 Creek. This has afforded him
the opportunity to pursue his artistic interests by creating
a highly detailed, technically accurate series of pen and
ink prints of helicopters and airplanes. Although Paul's primary
interest has been the aircraft of Army Aviation, in the future
this ever-expanding collection will include aircraft of all
the military services.
Paul
currently resides in Dothan, AL with his wife Zilpha.
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