3. A Heroic Escape Plan
Bruce Carr found himself stranded hundreds of miles behind enemy lines. He evaded capture for several days, but the going was rough. Eventually, cold, wet, exhausted, and starving, he decided to surrender. He knew that German airmen treated enemy airmen better than other POWs, so he headed to a Luftwaffe airfield that he had spotted. He made it to the surrounding fence, and decided to hide in adjacent woods that night, then walk up to the front gate and surrender the following morning. However, Carr saw something that made him change his mind: German ground-crew fueling and performing maintenance on an Fw 190 at the edge of a runway, close to his hiding spot.
When they were done, the Germans tightened the panels back on the plane and left, leaving it ready for combat the following morning. A plan began to form in Carr’s mind – more heroic than anything he had pulled off thus far. That night, Carr worked up the nerve to sneak up to the enemy fighter, and climbed into its cockpit. He fought off sleep until dawn’s early light allowed him to inspect the instruments. Everything was labeled in German, but there were enough similarities between the German and American cockpits for Carr to guesstimate what did what.