Born March 10, 1920 in Mérida, Mexico
Dear Bob
The B-17 Utzenstorf, Switzerland congratulates you on your 102th birthday and wishes you all the best, especially health.
This B-24 J-65-CO, Serial Nr : 42-100073, Marking: NB-H, Nik Name: Sack Artists / Shack Job from the 8th Air Force, 44th Bomb Group, 67th Squadron was flown by the group commander Capt Roberto L. Cardenas. After bombing Friedrichshafen, it was very badly damaged and burned. The crew parachuted out of the aircraft in the Fehraltorf area, and shortly thereafter it crashed into the forest near Fehraltorf on March 18, 1944.leaderless. Capt Roberto L. Cardenas made a career in the Air Force in the postwar years. A native of Merida, Mexico, he tested a number of prey aircraft after his return, including the Arado Ar 234 jet bomber, and was instrumental in testing the XB-45 and XB-46. On October 14, 1947, when General Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight with the X-1, Cardenas piloted the B-29 mother plane on that historic flight. During the Vietnam conflict, Roberto L. Cardenas flew fighter-bomber missions over Southeast Asia in the F-105 Thunderchief. By the time he retired from the USAF in 1973 with the rank of brigadier general, he had flown over 80 different types of aircraft.
