4. A Fresh Start With a New Squadron Was What This Fighter Pilot Needed to Become an Ace
Unfortunately for Bruce Carr, higher ups declined to give him credit for the downed Bf 109, arguing that it had crashed, rather than been shot down. He argued that his aggressive actions and pursuit had caused the crash. As he saw it, he had literally scared the enemy pilot to death, and caused him to kill himself. Carr was not only denied credit for his first victory, he was also labeled “overaggressive” by his superiors. So he was transferred to 353rd Squadron, 354th Fighter Group. It was his old outfit’s loss. In his new unit, Carr became not only an ace, but one of the 354th Fighter Group’s top aces. His rise to ace began on June 14th, 1944, when he was credited with a probable extermination of a Bf 109 over Normandy, France.
Three days later, on the 17th, he shared a victory, when he helped another pilot down an Fw 190. That August, Carr was commissioned a second lieutenant. On September 12th, 1944, Second Lieutenant Bruce Carr’s squadron strafed Ju-88 bombers on a German airfield. On the way back, his flight spotted more than thirty Fw 190s two thousand feet below them. The Americans pounced, and in just a few minutes, Carr personally shot down three enemy fighters – an aerial hat trick. He then escorted a fellow American pilot, whose airplane was badly damaged, back to base. His exploits that day earned Carr a Silver Star, America’s third-highest decoration for valor in combat.