#110 Honouring The Aviators | In Conversation With Ron Kaplan

In this episode, we celebrate Ron Kaplan. Ron has dedicated his life to preserving the legacy of the legendary aviators that make our industry the best in the world.

✈️Ron currently serves as Founder and Executive Director of the Ohio Air & Space Hall of Fame and Museum in Columbus, Ohio.  In 2017, he left the National Aviation Hall of Fame after a 19-year contractor and staff tenure that included four as Executive Director. In 2018, he secured a state grant of $550,000 toward establishing the non-profit Ohio Air & Space Hall of Fame and to renovate the 1929 Port Columbus Air Terminal into its home. A capital campaign to raise additional funds required to commence work on the 93-year-old Art Deco-style air terminal is currently underway.

Ron grew up with an avid interest in aviation history thanks to his father, a former B-25 pilot-instructor and private pilot.  He attended Ohio University for two years, studying graphic design and communications.  While at Ohio University, he created SURF OHIO, originally a t-shirt line that is now a trademarked and licensed lifestyle brand.

In 1982 he founded Kaplan Graphics, an imprinted sportswear company that he sold in 1994 to turn his then hobby as an aviation artist, journalist and photographer into a full-time career.  Ron went on to earn international acclaim for his illustrations of aircraft, insignia and hand-painted reproductions of vintage WWII nose-art on leather flight jackets, scrap aluminium and actual aircraft. 

Among his art clients were Air & Space Magazine, the Smithsonian Air & Space Society, NIKE, Chuck Yeager, Inc., the Miss America P-51 Air Racing Team, the Memphis Belle Memorial Association, and many other individuals, including WWII veteran aviators and warbird operators.  Ron was an artist member of the American Society of Aviation Artists, the U.S. Air Force Art Program, and a charter member of the International Society of Aviation Photographers.  He has been a contributing editor to FLIGHT JOURNAL and columnist for WARBIRD DIGEST magazines.

He is also a co-founder and co-director of the annual National Aviation Heritage Invitational, created in 1999 in partnership with the Reno Air Racing Association and the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

In 2012 he launched Reel Stuff Aviation Resources LLC, a consultancy dedicated to the development, creation and public appreciation of aviation cinema and broadcast projects.  Reel Stuff also provides marketing, production, branding and public relations services, with a client list that includes the Air Force Museum Foundation, Aviation Community Foundation, Bremont Watch Company, Army Aviation Association of America, Tockr Watch Company and the Columbus Center of Science of Industry, among others.

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👉Articles and Links Mentioned In The Episode:

https://www.warbirdaviationart.com

https://ohioairandspace.org

Ron's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ron.kaplan.313

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