When Cardenas was a teenager, building models and learning about gliders at Torrey Pines Gliderport first sparked his interest in airplanes.

Cardenas rose quickly in position, was promoted to operations officer and finally director of the Flight Test Unit, Experimental Engineering Laboratory at Wright Field.

His attack run was supposed to target the Manzell Air Armaments factory in Friedrichshafen, Württemberg, Germany.

According to his report relayed to the War Department, his number 2 engine was "hit by flak [and] on fire," causing the loss of 3,000 ft. altitude.

Several members of the crew were also wounded, including Cardenas, who received a head injury when a piece of flak pierced his helmet.

[2] In 1947, he became the Officer in Charge of Operations and was the command pilot for the B-29 Superfortress that launched Captain Chuck Yeager in the Bell X-1 supersonic experimental aircraft.

After a transcontinental flight in the YB-49, President Truman ordered Cardenas to do a flyby of Pennsylvania Avenue at rooftop level.

[8] During the Korean War, he was assigned to Wright Field and Edwards Air Force Base testing new fighters and bombers.

[3] During the Vietnam War, Cardenas flew F-105 Thunderchief combat missions and was then assigned to McConnell AFB as a trainer for the F-105.

At SHAPE, he was the U.S. Deputy to LIVE OAK, a code name for joint military planning operation of the United States, Great Britain and France in response to the Soviet blockade and interference of Western access to Berlin.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan appointed him California coordinator for Southwest Border Economic Action Group.

In 1985, he was appointed to chairman of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Advisory Group by California Governor George Deukmejian.

[10] United States (in order of precedence): Spain: In 1993, the University of New Mexico's Department of Engineering honored him for his professional contribution and leadership.

In 1995, he was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Fame in Lancaster, California, and the Sigma Chi fraternity awarded him the "Significant Sig" medal.