Bidspirit auction | WW2 Korea Vietnam ace Robert

WW2 Korea Vietnam ace Robert Cardenas NASA signed 10 x 8 b/w jet photo. Brigadier General Robert L. ”Bob” Cardenas was born in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico on March 10th, 1920. Young Robert moved to San Diego with his parents at the age of five. During his teenage years, Cardenas built model airplanes and helped local glider pilots with their dope-and-fabric construction often bumming rides with the pilots in the gliders he helped to repair. A bright student with excellent grades in Mathematics and Physics at high school, Cardenas was the top student in his high-school year and was selected to attend the San Diego State University along with the top student from three other local high schools. During 1939 Cardenas began a long and distinguished military career when he joined the California National Guard. In September of 1940, Cardenas entered into aviation cadet training, graduated and received his pilot wings and commission as a second lieutenant during July of 1941. Cardenas was sent to Kelly Field, Texas to become a flight instructor, then onto Twentynine Palms, California to establish the U.S. Army Air Forces glider training school and followed this by becoming a Flight Test Officer and then Director of Flight Test Unit, Experimental Engineering Laboratory, Wright Field Ohio. Down But Not Out Cardenas next assignment was to the 44th Bomb Group (known as the flying 8-balls) and arrived in England on January 4th, 1944. Based at Shipdam, Norfolk, Cardenas flew his first mission on January 21st in B-24H ”Southern Comfort”. On March 18th, 1944 (on his twentieth mission) whilst flying as command pilot aboard B-24J ”Sack Artists” the aircraft in which Cardenas was flying was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire and enemy fighters. The target was the Manzell Air Armaments plant at Friedrichshafen, Germany. The right wing of the aircraft had been badly damaged after a shell had gone through setting both the right engines ablaze. Cardenas had been injured when a piece of flak pierced his helmet causing a head wound, yet still Cardenas pressed home the attack. The pilot, Lt. Lacombe turned and headed for Switzerland as it was clear to Cardenas and the crew of the B-24 that they would not make it back to base, and would have to bail out. After bail out, the aircraft exploded and the remains crashed into Fehr Altdorf, Switzerland. Cardenas landed on the shore of Lake Constance (on the German side) and swam to the Swiss shore of the lakeside. After contacting the local resistance, Cardenas made his way into France prior to D-day and the French Resistance arranged for Cardenas to get back to England. Test Pilot and the XS-1 Program. Upon his return to the United States, Cardenas was assigned to the Flight Test Division at Wright Field and became a test pilot after graduating from the Flight Performance School. Cardenas flew the Messerschmitt ME-262 and the Arado 234 bomber to test, evaluate and gather data on the captured German jets and tested the Douglas XB-42 Mixmaster and the jet powered version, the XB-43. Major Cardenas was assigned as the chief test pilot of the bomber division and would fly all the new prototypes over the next four years. In the summer of 1947, Colonel Albert Boyd had selected Capt. Chuck Yeager as pilot, Lt. Bob Hoover as back-up pilot and Capt. Jackie Ridley as Project Engineer. Boyd selected Cardenas as Officer in Charge of the X-1 project at Muroc, California and as pilot of the B-29 launch aircraft. Cardenas was the B-29 pilot on all of Yeager's flights up to and including the first supersonic flight on October 14th, 1947. Flying the B-29 was not without hazard. On one flight, the X-1 refused to release from the shackle mechanism and Cardenas had to land the B-29 with the X-1 still attached (which was not empty of propellants as Yeager was unable to jettison all of the fuels). The landing was almost 3-point, had Cardenas raised the nose by 16 inches or so in flare, the X-1 would have been damaged, likewise, if the landing had been too hard, the X-1 would have been destroyed. Read the transcript from the air to air and air to ground communications of the world's first supersonic flight. YB-49 Flying Wing Program In December of 1947, Cardenas made his first flight in the Northrop YB-49 ”flying Wing”. Cardenas was designated Principal Project Pilot for the YB-49 test program and flew the evaluation tests from which a decision to purchase the YB-49 would be made. During May of 1948, the phase II performance tests were almost completed when Cardenas was given the opportunity to finish his engineering degree at the University of Southern California (USC). Al Boyd selected Captain Glen Edwards to replace Cardenas as the project pilot while Cardenas completed his engineering degree. Cardenas checked out Edwards in the YB-49 on May 20th and 21st 1948 and afterwards drove to Dayton, Ohio to pick up his sweetheart Gladys and got married.