About Craig Kodera

Craig Kodera - Craig Kodera has always loved aviation. Born in Riverside, California, in 1956, he cannot remember a time when airplanes and flight were not part of his life. He was raised in what he calls an "aviation family," in a neighborhood very close to the Los Angeles Airport. He was quick to pursue his dreams of art and aviation; he started to paint at fourteen, and by the time he was seventeen, he had earned his private pilot's license. Kodera attended UCLA, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mass communications. He also completed the equivalent of a minor in art history, and he served in the Air Force ROTC for three of his four years at UCLA.

After graduation, he worked as a commercial artist for several small advertising/design firms, and also for McDonnell Douglas Aircraft. There art and aviation merged, and Craig found himself employed as a production/design artist and illustrator. Following a year of commercial art, Kodera spent more than seven years in the Air Force Reserve. After completing OTS and flight training, he was assigned to the Air Rescue Service and stationed at March Air Force Base, where he logged over 1300 flying hours in the Lockheed HC-130H Hercules. He also served with the Strategic Air Command, stationed at the same air base, where he flew the McDonnell Douglas KC-1OA Extender.

Today First Officer Kodera flies for American Airlines. Having earned his commercial pilot's license, he began flying for Air California in 1986 and stayed on when the airline was acquired by American. Despite his often-hectic schedule, he has always found time for his fine art. Craig approaches his varied subjects from a contemporary point of view, yet his style encompasses the traditional. He is the Charter Vice President of the American Society of Aviation Artists, and he is a member of the Air Force Art Program and the Los Angeles Society of Illustrators. His work hangs in several museums and is part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.