Chamber President at Pentagon for Ceremony Honoring Keith Ferris

Mr. Keith Ferris and his wife, Peg, are shown in the accompanying photo with Walt Townshend.
Photo credit, David A. Walenga.

At the invitation of the Secretary of the Air Force, the Hon. Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, BWCC President Walt Townshend attended the ceremony honoring one of America’s top aviation artists, Keith Ferris, for the more than 60 works of art Ferris has painted for the Air Force Art Collection, 21 of which are on display for a two year period at the Pentagon.

Ferris’ first work was painted for the Collection in 1961. During the course of his decades of work, he has logged more than 300 hours of jet fighter time. Also, visitors to the National Air & Space Museum have seen Ferris’s mural, Fortresses Under Fire , which fills an entire wall and serves as a backdrop for five fighter planes and the forward fuselage of the B-26 Marauder Flak Bait. He also painted The Evolution of Jet Aviation, which fills an entire wall in the Jet Aviation gallery. The painting includes 27 significant jet aircraft, from the first to the fastest, representing eight nations and 20 manufacturers.

Mr. Ferris has been a speaker at the BWCC Foundation Mathematics Symposium and as a founder and director of the American Society of Aviation Artists (ASAA) was instrumental in bringing the ASAA international exhibition and conference to the BWI Thurgood Marshall International Airport through a strategic alliance with the BWCC.