Aviation Art by Paul Fretts
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.
