First Graduates of the West Coast Air Corps Glider School – Twenty-Nine Palms, Feb. 25, 1942 – Includes Bob Cardenas

This original ACME New York Bureau press photograph, dated February 25, 1942, captures a pivotal moment in the early history of the U.S. Army’s wartime glider program—the first graduating class from the West Coast Air Corps Glider School at Twenty-Nine Palms, California.

Pictured are three of the first twelve U.S. Army glider pilots to complete the program:

• Robin Rawl

• Bill Brett

• Bob Cardenas – who would go on to become a legendary test pilot and USAF brigadier general, piloting the B-29 that launched Chuck Yeager’s sound barrier-breaking Bell X-1 flight.

All three men are shown in leather jackets and officer caps, standing proudly beside a training glider, likely a TG-series model. Their expressions convey the enthusiasm and pioneering spirit of the earliest U.S. military glider pilots, who were being trained to operate unpowered aircraft for silent troop and equipment insertions in combat zones—a tactic inspired by Germany’s early WWII airborne operations.

Details:

• Date: February 25, 1942 (press stamped March 2, 1942)

• Location: Twenty-Nine Palms, California

• Event: Graduation of the first West Coast Air Corps Glider School class

• Photographer/Agency: ACME New York Bureau

• Aircraft: Likely TG-series training glider

• Condition: Crisp tones with light editorial handling wear; original press caption on reverse

💡 Historical Note:
The West Coast Glider School was part of a nationwide training network preparing pilots for the Waco CG-4A and other models used in airborne assaults such as Normandy and Market Garden. Bob Cardenas’s later career made this image especially collectible for aviation history enthusiasts.