Charles Carpenter
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Charles Carpenter and his L-4 Grasshopper, Rosie the Rocketer (s/n 43-30426) mounting a trio of bazookas just outboard of the jury struts
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| Born | (1912-08-29)August 29, 1912 |
| Died | March 22, 1966(1966-03-22) (aged 53) |
| Occupation | Teacher |
| Military career | |
| Nickname(s) | Bazooka Charlie |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Lt. Col. Charles "Bazooka Charlie" Carpenter (August 29, 1912 – March 22, 1966) was a United States Army officer and army observation pilot who served in World War II. He is most known for destroying several enemy armored vehicles in his bazooka-equipped L-4 Grasshopper light observation aircraft.[1]
Carpenter was born and raised in the town of Edgington, Illinois. He graduated from Centre CollegeinDanville, Kentucky.[2]
Upon arriving in France in 1944, Carpenter was assigned an L-4 Grasshopper for artillery spotter role and reconnaissance missions. Assuming a 150-pound (68 kg) pilot and no radio aboard, the L-4H had a remaining cargo or passenger weight capacity of approximately 232 pounds (105 kg).[3][4] The additional weight of radio and radio operator often exceeded this limit. Inspired by other L-4 pilots who had installed bazookas as anti-tank armament on their planes, Carpenter added bazooka launchers to his plane as well.[4][5][6]
Within a few weeks, on September 20, 1944, during the Battle of Arracourt, Carpenter was credited with knocking out a German armored car and four tanks.[6] Carpenter's plane, bearing USAAF serial number 43-30426, was known as Rosie the Rocketer (a play on Rosie the Riveter), and his exploits were soon featured in numerous press accounts, including Stars and Stripes, the Associated Press, Popular Science, the New York Sun, and Liberty magazine. Carpenter once told a reporter that his idea of fighting a war was to "attack, attack and then attack again."[7]
After destroying his fifth enemy tank, Carpenter told a Stars and Stripes correspondent that the "word must be getting around to watch out for Cubs with bazookas on them. Every time I show up now they shoot with everything they have. They never used to bother Cubs. Bazookas must be bothering them a bit."[8][9]
By war's end, Major Carpenter had destroyed or disabled several German armored cars and tanks (he was officially credited with six tanks destroyed).[6]
In 1945, Carpenter became seriously ill and was diagnosed with Hodgkin disease. Doctors gave him 2 years to live. He received an honorable discharge. from the U.S. Army service in 1946. Thereafter, he returned to work as a history teacher at Urbana High SchoolinUrbana, Illinois, where he worked and remained until his death in 1966 at the age of 53.[10]
In October 2017, the same L-4H that then-Major Carpenter had flown in World War II was located at the Austrian Aviation Museum (German: Österreichisches Luftfahrtmuseum) at Graz Airport, and was acquired by the Collings Foundation for restoration to its World War II appearance by a restorer in La Pine, Oregon,[11] with the restoration reported as complete on July 4, 2020.[12] The aircraft is now on public display at the Collings Foundation's American Heritage Museum.
In 1944, U.S. Army pilot and artillery spotter [Major] Charles Carpenter was in France, fighting in the 4th Armored Division of Gen. George S. Patton's 3rd Army, when he had a crazy idea...Carpenter strapped three bazookas under each wing of his 1944 Piper L-4H, a frail reconnaissance plane not typically used for combat, flew over the German army and blasted multiple Panzer tanks and armored cars north of the town of Nancy. It earned him the nickname "Bazooka Charlie."...75 years later, the Piper L-4H — nicknamed "Rosie the Rocketer" — has found its way to a rural garage near La Pine, where it's being restored by a retired engineer.
After a year and a half of painstaking work, "Rosie The Rocketer," a WWII-era Piper L-4H airplane, has returned to its original 1944 condition, when it was outfitted with bazookas to blast Nazi tanks in France.
