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That first attempt at aviation art went on to win the 1987 International Council of Air Shows( ICAS) Poster of the Year award and as a result, kicked off Herter’ s aviation art career. The following year the artist was commissioned to create works for major air shows around the United States. Over the next few years his work became more recognized and with increasing demand from aviation-related clients like aerospace companies and private collectors, Rick resigned from his job in advertising to join the aerospace world as a full time aviation artist.
THE AIR FORCE COMES CALLING.
Around the same time, Rick’ s work was also being followed by the prestigious United States Air Force Art Program. The USAFAP was under the command of the Secretary of the Air Force Office of History and was created in the 1950s. The program was a cooperative between the Air Force and a select group of professional civilian artists who volunteered their skills to capture the
history of the Air Force mission, airmen and equipment through visual art. The art created by these artists was then used to help tell the Air Force story to the American public. Although the artists weren’ t paid— and their time and original artworks, created from their experiences, were donated to the Air Force— the service gave artists access to Air Force events and experiences that were normally not available to civilians. Herter was invited into the program and offered the rare opportunity to be one of few, flightqualified artists. The opportunity to fill that role included the successful completion of various Air Force training requirements to achieve the qualification.
From the late 1980s through 2022 Rick was invited to fly and capture the history of Air Force units worldwide. He deployed
DECEMBER 2025 | JANUARY 2026 ISSUE NO. 48 | 41