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"The Hump" was an air lane of approximately 500 miles of unpredictable weather and treacherous winds stretching from India, over Burma, to supply the Allied forces in China. From December of 1942 to V-J day in 1945, more than 700,000 tons of supplies were carried over the Himalayas in more than 150,000 individual missions.
But the cost was terrible. The Hump's "Able" route was considered the most hazardous regularly used air lane in any part of the world; conditions changed from minute to minute and from mile to mile. Thousands of men died and hundreds of aircraft were lost over the Hump and it was important to honor their accomplishments and bravery. They did the job they were supposed to do - with courage and skill, despite unbelievable odds.
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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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