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Robert A Karr
Victories : 6
Robert Karr was born on January 11, 1924, in Waterloo, Iowa. Robert enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve on July 31, 1942, and entered the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Forces on February 8, 1943, receiving his commission as a 2d Lt and pilot wings at Spence Field, Georgia, on November 3, 1943. After completing P-47 Thunderbolt training and serving with the 536th Fighter Squadron of the 87th Fighter Group, Lt Karr was assigned as a P-51C Mustang pilot with the 5th Fighter Squadron of the 52nd Fighter Group in North Africa and Italy from May 1944 to June 1945. Operating out of Madna Airfield in Italy, he got his first victory when he downed an Me109 near Udine on 9th June, adding two more a few weeks later. On 17th July, leading a flight of P51Ds, he shot down three more Me109s in a day near Blata, Poland. A P51 Ace with 6 victories plus 2 more damaged in the air to his credit, he retired from the service in 1976. |
Click here for artwork signed by this Ace!
Robert A Karr
Squadrons for : Robert A Karr | ||
A list of all squadrons known to have been served with by Robert A Karr. A profile page is available by clicking the squadron name. | ||
Squadron | Info | |
Country : US (AVG) Financially backed by China to defend against Japanese attack, prior to American entering the war. Pilots awarded $500 bounty for each aircraft destroyed. Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of 52nd Fighter Group | 52nd Fighter Group Full profile not yet available. | |
Country : US (AVG) Financially backed by China to defend against Japanese attack, prior to American entering the war. Pilots awarded $500 bounty for each aircraft destroyed. Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of 536th Fighter Squadron | 536th Fighter Squadron Full profile not yet available. | |
Country : US (AVG) Financially backed by China to defend against Japanese attack, prior to American entering the war. Pilots awarded $500 bounty for each aircraft destroyed. Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of 5th Fighter Squadron | 5th Fighter Squadron Full profile not yet available. | |
Country : US (AVG) Financially backed by China to defend against Japanese attack, prior to American entering the war. Pilots awarded $500 bounty for each aircraft destroyed. Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of 87th Fighter Group | 87th Fighter Group Full profile not yet available. |
Aircraft for : Robert A Karr | |||
A list of all aircraft associated with Robert A Karr. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name. | |||
Squadron | Info | ||
Manufacturer : North American | Mustang The ubiquitous North American P-51 Mustang, which many consider to be the best all-around fighter of WW II, owes its origins to the British Air Ministry. Following Britains entry into WW II in 1939, the RAF was interested in purchasing additional fighter aircraft from American sources, particularly the Curtiss P-40. Curtiss, which was busy, was unable to guarantee timely delivery so the British approached North American Aviation as a possible second source for the P-40. North American chose to propose its own fighter design which would use the same Allison engine as the P-40. Utilizing new laminar flow wings, the North American fighter was expected to have performance better than the P-40. Developed in record time the new aircraft was designated as a Mustang I by the Brits, whereas the USAAF ordered two for evaluation which were designated XP-51 Apaches. Intrigued with the possibility of using this aircraft also as a dive bomber, North American proposed this to the USAAF which decided to order 500 of the P-51 aircraft to be modified for dive bombing use. Designated as the A-36 Invader, this version of the Mustang utilized dive flaps, and bomb racks under each wing. Some reinforcing of the structural members was also required because of the G-forces to be encountered in dive bombing. A-36s entered combat service with the USAAF prior to any P-51s. In early 1943 the 86th and 27th Fighter Bomber Groups of the 12th Air Force began flying A-36s out of Northern Africa. Despite some early problems with instability caused by the dive flaps, the A-36 was effective in light bombing and strafing roles. It was not, however, capable of dog fighting with German fighters, especially at higher altitudes. Despite these drawbacks one USAAF pilot, Captain Michael T. Russo, who served with the 16th Bomb Squadron of the 27th Fighter Bomber Group, was credited with five confirmed aerial victories in the A-36, thereby becoming the first mustang ace. | ||
Production Began : 1943 Number Built : 15683 | Thunderbolt Alexander Kartveli was a engineer with Seversky Aircraft who designed the P-35, which first flew in 1937. With Republic Aviation Kartveli supervised the development of the P-43 Lancer. Neither of these aircraft were produced in large numbers, and neither was quite successful. However, the Republic Aviation P-47 Thunderbolt, also nicknamed the Jug, was quite a different story. The Jug was the jewel in Kartvelis design crown, and went on to become one of the most produced fighter aircraft of all time with 15,683 being manufactured. The P-47 was the largest and heaviest single seat fighter of WW II. The P-47 immediately demonstrated its excellent combat qualities, including speed, rate of climb, maneuverability, heavy fire power, and the ability to take a lot of punishment. With a wingspan of more than 40 feet and a weight of 19,400 pounds, this large aircraft was designed around the powerful 2000 HP Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine. The first P-47 prototype flew in May of 1941, and the primary variant the P-47D went into service in 1943 with units of the U.S. Armys Eighth Air Force. The Jug had a maximum speed in excess of 400 MPH, a service ceiling in excess of 42,000 feet, and was heavily armed with either six or eight heavy caliber machine guns. With its ability to carry up to a 2,500 pound bomb load, the Jug saw lots of use in ground attack roles. Until the introduction of the N model, the P-47 lacked the long range required for fighter escort missions which were most often relegated to P-51 Mustangs or P-38 Lightnings. In his outstanding painting entitled Bridge Busting Jugs, noted aviation artist Stan Stokes depicts Eighth Air Force Jugs in a ground attack mission in the Alps in June of 1944. The top P-47 ace was Francis Gabreski who had flown with the 56th Fighter Group, the first unit to be equipped with the P-47. In August of 1943 Gabreski attained his first aerial combat victory (over an Fw-190) and by years end he had reached ace status with 8 confirmed victories. As Commander of the 61st Squadron, Gabreski continued to chalk up victory after victory, and on seven different occasions he achieved two victories during the same mission. However, in July of 1944 Gabreski damaged the prop on his Jug during a low level attack on an airfield near Coblenz. Forced to make a crash landing, he was captured and remained a prisoner of war until Wars end in 1945. Following the War Gabreski returned to military service with the Air Forces 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing in Korea. Flying the F-86 Sabre Jet, Gabreski attained 6.5 more aerial victories in 1951 and 1952 becoming an ace in two different wars |
Known Victory Claims - Robert A Karr | |||||||
DATE | PILOT | UNIT | JG | CLAIMED | LOCATION | TIME | FRONT |
09/06/1944 | Robert A Karr | 52nd Fighter Group | 5th Fighter Squadron | Me109 | Udine | Western Front | |
30/06/1944 | Robert A Karr | 52nd Fighter Group | 5th Fighter Squadron | Me109 | Western Front | ||
30/06/1944 | Robert A Karr | 52nd Fighter Group | 5th Fighter Squadron | Me109 | Western Front | ||
17/07/1944 | Robert A Karr | 52nd Fighter Group | 5th Fighter Squadron | Me109 | Blata | Western Front | |
17/07/1944 | Robert A Karr | 52nd Fighter Group | 5th Fighter Squadron | Me109 | Blata | Western Front | |
17/07/1944 | Robert A Karr | 52nd Fighter Group | 5th Fighter Squadron | Me109 | Blata | Western Front |
Known Claims : 6
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