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It is 12:30 a.m. on D-Day, June 6, 1944. By the light of a full moon, C-47s from the 89th troop carrier squadron, 438th troop carrier group, pass swiftly over the Normandy countryside. These aircraft are among a total of 850 C-47s taking over 15,000 troops to enact the initial assault in the D-Day invasion.
General Dwight E. Eisenhower declared the Douglas C-47 one of the few pieces of equipment "vital to our success in Africa and Europe." The aircraft itself, however, would have meant nothing without the fearless airborne forces, who at the signal "Green light, Jump!" parachuted into battle.
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Aviation is this artist’s living. Painting is a joy and a choice; not his
career. Craig Kodera career is as an airline pilot, so each of his paintings
reflect an intimate knowledge of how it feels to fly and what it looks like out
the cockpit. "I paint what I see," he says,"and my office window is at 35,000
feet."
An appreciation of aviation came easy, since Kodera was raised in what he terms
an "aviation family," which included an uncle who flew with the famous
Doolittle Raiders during World War II. At an age when most teens were trying to
ace the driver’s test, Kodera had earned his private pilot’s license. A love of
painting also came early. Kodera started seriously studying it at fourteen.
He graduated from UCLA with a degree in mass communications and spent a year as
a commercial artist before joining the Air Force Reserve, where he was assigned
to the Air Rescue Service and then the Strategic Air Command. There his
knowledge of air war history grew while he logged literally thousands of hours
flying.
Eventually Kodera left the service and joined American Airlines. When he isn’t
flying, he’s usually painting. His artwork is part of the Smithsonian
Institution’s National Air and Space Museum permanent collection and hangs in
many museums. He is also the charter vice president of the American Society of
Aviation Artists, a member of the Air Force Art Program and serves with the Los
Angeles Society of Illustrators.
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