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.