Skip to content

This Day in History – June 10, 1969 – The X-15 gets a place in history

10 June 1969: The U.S. Air Force donated the first North American Aviation X-15, serial number 56-6670, to the Smithsonian Institution for display at the National Air and Space Museum. The first of three X-15A hypersonic research rocketplanes built by North American for the Air Force and the National Advisory Committee (NACA, the predecessor of NASA), 56-6670 made the first glide flight and

Read More »
Main Menu
  • Home
  • History
    • About The SSS
    • Headed West
    • Biographies
    • Today in F-100 History
    • SSS Caterpillar
    • Wall of Honor
    • F-100 Information
    • Friends of the Super Sabre
    • N. American F-100 Super Sabre
  • Galleries
  • The Intake
    • About The Intake: Journal
    • The Intake: Journal of the Super Sabre Society – Archives
  • What’s New
  • Contact

Carr, Bruce W.

  • Home
  • Biography
  • Biographies
  • Carr, Bruce W.

Bruce Ward Carr

Date of Birth: January 28, 1924
Highest Military Grade: 0-6 – Colonel
Hometown: Union Springs, NY
Headed West Date: April 25, 1998
Biography
Pilot Information
Headed West
Album

“On November 2nd 1944, Carr took off on a mission and was shot down by flak while strafing ground targets over Czechoslovakia. He bailed out and landed near a Luftwaffe field with the intent of surrendering to the Luftwaffe troops, but it was becoming dark just as he got there. From the trees he watched as two mechanics fueled up an FW 190, and hatched a daring plan to escape by stealing that plane.

Near dawn he snuck out and jumped in the cockpit. Through experimentation, Carr was able to start the plane, and with Luftwaffe personnel already coming out to see what was going on he gunned it across a corner of the field on a path that had him pass between two hangars before he was airborne.

Managing to make it back to his home field in France, Carr was unable to lower the landing gear and was forced to make a belly up landing. Upon landing, he was presumed to be a hostile German pilot by the armed personnel at the airfield, until he was recognised by his group commander George R. Bickel.”

After the war, Carr was assigned to the Acrojets as an F-80 Shooting Star pilot at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. The Acrojets, which preceded the Thunderbirds, were the United States Air Force’s first jet-powered aerobatic demonstration team.

Major Carr later flew the F-86 Sabre in 57 combat missions with the 336th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron while stationed at Kimpo (K-14) Air Base in South Korea during the Korean War. He then served as the commanding officer of the 336th at Misawa Air Base in Japan, from January 1955 to August 1956.

On November 3, 1968, Carr was promoted to colonel and deployed to South Vietnam later that month. He was assigned to the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Tuy Hoa Air Base. He flew the F-100 Super Sabre in 286 combat missions during the war, which mostly consisted of flying close air support bombing and strafing missions. Carr was awarded the Legion of Merit and three Distinguished Flying Crosses during his deployment, before he rotated back to the United States in November 1969.”(1)

Source(1) Wikipedia

Units Assigned

  • 9/3/1942 Aviation Cadet training
  • Accelerated training program, Spence Field, GA (P-40)
  • 8/30/1943 Promoted to flight officer
  • 2/1944 380th Fighter Squadron/363rd Fighter Group/9th Air Force, RAF Rivenhall, England (P-51)
    Took his P-51 to an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,100 m), he was duly impressed and named his plane “Angel’s Playmate.”
  • 5/1944 353rd Fighter Squadron/354th Fighter Group, RAF Lashenden, England/France
    Acrojets pilot, Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. (F-80) The Acrojets, which preceded the Thunderbirds, were the United States Air Force’s first jet-powered aerobatic demonstration team.
  • 336th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, Kimpo (K-14) Air Base, South Korea (F-86)
  • 1/1955-8/1956 336th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, Commander, Misawa AB, Japan
  • 11/3/1968 31st Tactical Fighter Wing,  Tuy Hoa AB, Vietnam (F-100)
  • 1973 Retired USAF

Awards & Decorations

Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Cross
Silver Star
Silver Star
Legion Of Merit
Legion of Merit
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Cross with V Device and 3 Oak Leaf Clusters
Air Medal
Air Medal with 4 Silver Oak Leaf Clusters
Air Medal
Air Medal with 1 Silver/3 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Air Medal
Air Medal – 3rd Ribbon
Presidential Unit Citation
Presidential Unit Citation
1920px American Campaign Medal Ribbon
American Campaign Medal
European African Middle Eastern Campaign Ribbon
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 4 Bronze campaign stars
World War II Victory Medal Ribbon
WWII Victory Medal
National Defense Service Medal
National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Service Star
Korean Service Medal
Korean Service Medal with 3 Bronze Campaign Stars
Vietnam Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal with 2 Bronze Campaign Stars
Air Force Longevity Service Award (AFLSA)
Air Force Longevity Service Award with Silver/Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Vietnam Air Service Medal Ribbon
Vietnam Air Service Medal Honor Class
United Nations Service Medal Korea Ribbon
United Nations Service Medal for Korea
Vietnam Campaign Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal
Republic Of Korea Korean War Service Medal
Korean War Service Medal

Flight Info

P-40
P-51
F-80
F-86
F-100 – 286 combat missions

172 combat missions WWII

Command Pilot

Military & Civilian Education

Military Education:

  • Aviation Cadets

Bruce W. Carr, Col USAF, Ret., “Headed West” on April 25, 1998.

Bruce Ward Carr died of prostate cancer on April 25, 1998, in St. Cloud, Florida, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Brucewcarr
Album Slideshow
Slideshow
Click To View

Wall of Honor Location

Our Mission

The mission of the Super Sabre Society is to preserve the history of the F-100 Super Sabre and the men who flew the aircraft.

Follow Us

Copyright © 2025 Super Sabre Society
Website by: Heart and Soul Web Design
Scroll to Top