Piloto: Migrant Worker to Jet Pilot

Rating:
Summary: A solid, entertaining read
Review: I heard Hank Cervantes speak at a reunion of the famed "Bloody 100th" Bomb Group and was so impressed I went out and got this book. It was just as impressive. What an incredible story! A child of migrant workers, growing up in the harshest condiditons imaginable, dreams of something beyond the farm fields. He stays in school, works hard and eventually is accepted into pilot training during WWII. He has to put up with bigotry and racism at every turn, yet something in him won't let him give in or up. Eventually he achieves ranking and position few Hispanics in the military have. Besides being a great story teller, Cervantes is also a great role model for youth--minority and otherwise. Then to top it all off, the book is filled with details about B-17s, B-47s and the B-58 Hustler--a perfect read for an ol' aviation buff like me. This one should be in every school library in the country. Read it!

Rating:
Summary: An engaging and candid memoir
Review: Piloto: Migrant Worker To Jet Pilot by Henry Cervantes is his personal story of being a Mexican-American pilot who proudly served the United States Air Force. An engaging and candid memoir of what it was like to be a Latino in a life-or-death field dominated by Caucasians, Piloto offers the reader a firsthand witness of one man's transformation in while serving in the Air Force both during and after World War II. Piloto is a unique and welcome contribution to American Military and Aviation History collections.