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In July 1942, America was making every effort to enter the air war raging over Europe. Departing from the United States, in what was called "Operation Bolero," a pair of B-17 Flying Fortresses flew in formation with six brand-new Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. Winging their way through frost-filled skies en route to England, the tiny armada became hopelessly lost. The planes ran low on fuel and were forced to land on Greenland's ice cap. Miraculously, all of the crew survived the belly landings.
Even more miraculously, one of the aircraft was recovered almost fifty years later from under some two hundred feet of ice.
Countersigned by Brad McManus, pilot of one of the P-38s and Roy Shoffner, leader of the Lost Squadron recovery expedition.
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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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