Monthly Alumni Lunch - November 2014 - Guest Speaker Brigadier General Robert L. “Bob” Cardenas, USAF (retired)

Our speaker for November 2014 is brother Brigadier General Robert L. “Bob” Cardenas, USAF (retired).

Brigadier General Bob Cardenas served as a test pilot, combat leader in both Bombers and Fighters as well as Commander of the Air Force Special Operations Force. He has flown over 60 different aircraft in his career.

In 1944 he flew combat missions in B-24 Liberators in the skies over Germany and was shot down but was not captured and escaped into Switzerland and then into France prior to D Day.

Cardenas was a key member of the X-1 supersonic project. He was the Operations Officer and command pilot of the B-29 that launched Captain Charles Yeager into the realm of supersonic flight.

He was assigned as Chief Air Force test pilot on the YB-49 flying wing project. In January 1949 he flew the YB-49 from Muroc AB to Andrews AFB in Washington. The transcontinental non-stop flight set a record time of 4 hours and 5 minutes.

After the Gulf of Tonkin crisis he flew F-105 combat missions from Korat, Thailand over North Vietnam. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1968 and went on to be assigned in Europe as Vice Commander of the 16th Air Force in Spain. It was there that he had the dubious honor of negotiating with Muammar Gadhafi the withdrawal of US forces from Wheelus AFB in Libya.

Prior to his retirement in June 1973, General Cardenas served as the Chief of the JL Division of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff (JSTPS) where he was responsible for the development of the Joint Stategic Target List of the US nuclear War Plan (SIOP).

In 1987 the Governor appointed the General to the California Veterans Board and was elected to Chairman of the Board for the policymaking body for the California Department of Veterans Affairs. He left in 1993 to serve as Chairman of the San Diego United Veterans Council and as a Director on the Board of the Veterans Memorial Center & Museum.

The Sigma Chi fraternity awarded him the “Significant Sig” medal in 1995 and 2005 he was inducted into the “Significant Sig” Hall of Fame during the Sigma Chi 150th Anniversary in Cincinnati, Ohio.

General Cardenas is at home with his wife Gladys and their children and grandchildren in San Diego, California.

ALL Sigma Chi alumni are welcome no matter if you went to school on the east coast, west coast, in the midwest or the south. Spread the word and please pass this invitation along to any alumni who would like to come.

Cost: $20 2014 dues paid member | $25 non-dues paid member