Lonnie Ortega (born October 3, 1946, in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) is an American artist specializing in

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

art.

Background

Lonnie Ortega was born in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

and is one of six children. He graduated from Western High School in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

in 1964 and continued on to Cerritos Junior College in

Cerritos, California Cerritos (Spanish for "Little hills") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. It was incorporated on April 24, 1956. As of 20 ...

to study

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

. In 1966, Lonnie enrolled at Cypress Junior College in

Cypress, California Cypress is a city in northwestern Orange County within Southern California. Its population was 50,151 at the 2020 census. History The first people living in the area now known as Cypress were the Gabrieleno, a Native American tribe of the Ton ...

to play baseball. During his time at Cypress Junior College, he was drafted by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

. In 1967, he was offered a full athletic scholarship to play

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

at Chapman College in

Orange, California Orange is a city located in North Orange County, California. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built before ...

. However, in the summer of 1968, Lonnie's baseball playing days ended with a serious knee injury.

Career

The injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise - with his

dreams shattered, Lonnie chose to concentrate on his

. Lonnie was hired in 1969 to work for the

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...

Aircraft Company in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

(now known as The

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

Company after a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

between the two companies in 1997). He completed his

education while working for the company and was the understudy of famed

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

Robert Grant (R.G.) Smith, who worked for the company as a

design engineer A design engineer is an engineer focused on the engineering design process in any of the various engineering disciplines (including civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, textiles, aerospace, nuclear, manufacturing, systems, and structural /buil ...

. When Smith died due to complications related to

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, Lonnie was asked by Smith's daughter to do a portrait of her father - he was honored to do so for his famous

mentor Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

. Lonnie retired from The

Company in May 2002 to pursue his

career full-time. He is a member of the

Commemorative Air Force The Commemorative Air Force (CAF), formerly known as the Confederate Air Force, is an American non-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas, that preserves and shows historical aircraft at airshows, primarily in the U.S. and Canada. The CAF h ...

and is part of Air Group One, which is stationed out of

El Cajon, California El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...

. Each year, Lonnie contributes his time and money to the ongoing projects within the group by selling his artwork at the

Gillespie Field Gillespie Field is a county-owned public towered airport northeast of downtown San Diego, in El Cajon, San Diego County, California, United States. History : ''Section reference dates.'' In 1942 the United States Marine Corps chose a site wi ...

Air Show and donating a percentage of the proceeds to Air Group One. He and his artwork can also be found at various other air shows in the

area and throughout the United States (i.e. the

Oshkosh Airshow EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, ...

and

Reno Air Races The Reno Air Races, officially known as the STIHL National Championship Air Races from 2016, is a multi-day event tailored to the aviation community that takes place each September at the Reno Stead Airport a few miles north of Reno, Nevada. A ...

Personal

Lonnie lives in

with his wife Julie and their two children, Megan and John.

External links

Official Website: http://www.lonnieortegaaviationart.com/

References

P-82 Squadron symposium: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3901/is_199811/ai_n8813073 1946 births Living people American artists Artists from California Aviation artists {{US-artist-stub