Don Connolly was a widely recognized Canadian aviation artist with work represented in a number of major museum collections including the Canada War and Aviation Museums in Ottawa, the National Air Force Museum in Trenton, and numerous other provincial and military museums, both in Canada and the USA.  His work has also been seen frequently as prints, cover paintings and/or illustrations in books and magazines such as Aviation History, Aviation Week and Space Technology and (Cdn.) Airforce; and in 1982 a book of his earlier aviation paintings was published under the title Painting Planes.

He painted as a professional for 25 years, and numbered his output of original (aviation) works as being “well over 2000”.   Commissions were a speciality, and consumed most of his time at the easel.

The artist has been one of the key figures in the formation and administration of the Canadian Aviation Artists Association, which in 2002 was honoured by the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame for its contributions to preserving the history of Canadian aviation.  He was also a long-time active member of the American Society of Aviation Artists and of the Canadian Aviation Historical Association. He was a frequent contributor and prize winner at major shows in both the US and Canada, and in 2003 was invited by the USAF Museum to display ten works in its first show of international aviation art, as the official representative for Canada.