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A1C Christopher Carter
to remember
Carter, James, Col.
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Contact Info
Home Town Pullman, WA
Last Address las Cruces, NM
Date of Passing Apr 06, 1996
Location of Interment Fort Bliss National Cemetery (VA) - Fort Bliss, Texas
Colonel Carter was born May 2, 1919 in the small town of Pullman Washington. He studied mechanical engineering at Washington State University and pre-medicine at the University of North Carolina. He joined the United States Army Air Force on September 30, 1941. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on July 3, 1942. He was first assigned to Stat Fighter Squadrons 56th Fighter group at Stratford Connecticut for six months training in the P-47B. The fighter group sailed for England on January 6, 1943. The group flew its first combat mission in April 1943. The 56th FIghter Group known as Zemke's Wolfpack was one of the most decorated fighter groups of World War II and had the two leading Aces in the European theater, Robert S. Johnson and Francis Gabreski. Colonel Carter was stationed in Halesworth, Suffolk, then to Boxted in Colchester. He was promoted to flight leader of the 61st Squadron,then to Deputy Group Operatrions Leader under Francis Gabreski, then to Commander of the 61sr Fighter Squadron in December 1944. Major Carter became a Fighter Ace on July 4, 1944. He flew the test which resulted in less fuel consumption and helped enable increased range for the P-47 fighter. He dropped the first bombs from a P-47 and took the first bomb-strike photos from a P-47 using a K-17 camera installed in the radio compartment. He piloted a two seat P-47 flying General Kepner, Commander 8th Air Force Fighter Command, on the General's first combat mission. At a later date in the same two-seater he made a "Radar" intercept of a German 7Me-26Z jet, probably the only such intercept by a P-47. At the end of the war he became the Scholl's Officer and established the Technical Training Institute at Headdquarters for U.S. Air Force- Europe Wiesbaden Germany. Colonel Carter was reassigned to the States as Commander 56th Fighter Group Selfridge Air Force Base. He attended Squadron Officers Scholl at Tyndall Air Force Base, and graduated from the University of Florida as an Aeronautical Engineer. He was then assigned as Chief , Air Defense DIvision of the Air Proving Ground Command in Eglin, Florida. He attended Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base and was promoted to Colonel. Colonel Carter served as Director Operations and Training Alaskan Command, Chief, then to the Pentagon as Chief, Air Defense DIvision, Directorate of Requirements, U.S. Air Force Headquarters, then as Commander ,Tactical Reconnaissance Combat Training Group, Shaw Air Force Base in south Carolina. Colonel Carter's last flying assignment was as DIrector for Operations 7th/13th Air Forces, Udorn, Thailand and as supervisor of air-rescue Operations in North VIetnam. Colonel Carter's last military assignment was as Chief of the Athena Test Field Office of the Space and Missile Systems Organization, at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.There his group tested in one- tenth scale, the payloads for the Polaris, Poseidon, and Minuteman missiles. Colonel Carter retired from the military in July 1968 after 27 years of service.
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Central Europe Campaign (1945)
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
May / 1945
Description On March 22, 1945, the U.S. Third Army established a second salient, in addition to the one at Remagen, across the Rhine River at Oppenheim, 288 miles southwest of Berlin. The next day its troops also crossed the river at Boppard, 40 miles northwest of Oppenheim. Farther north, British and Canadian forces went across near Wesel, 65 miles northwest of Bonn. Ninth Air Force and Royal Air Force troop carriers and gliders dropped an American and a British airborne division north of Wesel on March 24, while the U.S. Ninth Army crossed the river 10 miles southeast of Wesel. The next day the U.S. First Army began an advance into Germany from Remagen, just south of Bonn, and on March 26 the Seventh Army crossed the Rhine River north of Mannheim, about 25 miles south of Oppenheim. Five days later, on March 31, French troops crossed the Rhine 10 miles south of Mannheim.
Before the Allied armies began crossing the Rhine in force, Allied air forces bombed and strafed German positions in the contested areas along the river. Heavy bombers also flew battlefield interdiction missions between March 21 and 24, before returning to strategic bombardment missions against targets in Germany. Although little of strategic value remained because of the destruction wrought by the
combined bomber offensive, oil refineries and fuel depots remained primary targets.
The Luftwaffe could no longer effectively oppose the heavy bombers nor could it provide close air support for retreating German troops.
When fuel was available, the enemy continued to intercept Allied bomber formations with a few fighter aircraft. On the battle front, AAF fighter-bombers flew close air support and tactical reconnaissance missions for Allied forces, while medium bombers attacked bridges, trucks, troop concentrations, railroads, and airfields. Troop carrier and transport aircraft flew critically needed supplies to forward airfields that had been rebuilt by aviation engineers behind the advancing Allied armies. After delivering supplies, the pilots loaded wounded soldiers and liberated prisoners of war and returned them to the rear areas. The last mission of the AAF's heavy bombers in Europe involved flying supplies to the starving population in The Netherlands.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
May / 1945
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories By the end of World War II, James had flown 435 combat hours and 137 combat missons in the P-47 over Germany.