Piloto: Migrant Worker to Jet Pilot

by Henry Cervantes, Hank Cervantes

PILOTO tells the story of Hank Cervantes, son of migrant field workers, who rose above the poverty and hardship of Central California's sweltering farm fields to become one of only a handful of Mexican-American pilots in the annals of the United States Air Force. His trials and triumphs as an anomaly in the tight fraternity of Caucasian pilots follow the Air Force's transformation from the B-17 battle wagons of WWII to the Strategic Air command's supersonic B-58 Hustler. Provocative, witty, and intensely personal, PILOTO offers a fascinating portrait of a pioneer who helped pave the way for today's Latino men and women pilots--and for all those who will fly into the future.

263 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2003

Reviews

[Anthony Pignataro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir of one of the few Latino jet pilots in U.S. Air Force history held my interest, but that may just be because I’m an airplane nerd. Hank Cervantes was born into a farm worker family in Central California, but joined the army in World War II to fly. He flew B-17s in Europe for just a few months near the end of the war, but experienced harrowing combat that killed many of his friends. The most interesting parts of his book are the many examples of racism—casual and aggressive—he encountered throughout his career. But I could have done without his endless tales of womanizing—I get it, you like flight attendants and nurses. His lifelong bachelor status ended up making the end of the book—his retirement from the Air Force in the mid-1960s—quite sad. Still, Cervantes served honorably and his life story is inspiring.