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"'Bock's Car' took off at 3:45 in the morning in pitch black and returned to base at 3:00 in the afternoon. It was basically hazy mid-morning when they were over their target, so the only really good time to picture it, to artistically create a strong print, would be at sunrise. I had originally painted the plane already at altitude, the other way around, with the sun on it and a lot of clouds in the background, but it didn't have the weight I wanted.
"Sunrise was also a good time to set the image because I could identify with the crew in a way; having myself flown all-nighters many times - missions that start in the evening and end up overseas as the sun is rising - I really had a feeling for the mental state the air crew was in at the time. I know it was a strenuous and tenuous time for them. That's why I wanted to show the airplane laboring under the weight of its payload and the crew laboring under the weight of its responsibility. That's why I called it 'Lonely Flight to Destiny.'"
Countersigned by: Charles D. Albury, Fred J. Olivi, James F. Van Pelt, Jr., John D. Kuharek and Raymond C. Gallagher
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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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