Craig Kodera

Aviation is this artist’s living. Painting is a joy and a choice; not his career.

Craig Kodera's career was 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 said,"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 wasn’t flying, he was usually painting. His artwork is part of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum permanent collection and hangs in many museums. He was also the charter vice president of the American Society of Aviation Artists, a member of the Air Force Art Program and served with the Los Angeles Society of Illustrators. Mr. Kodera passed away in March of 2021.