Frazier International History Museum

Carla Schell

Louisville,KY

Carl George Tafel, Jr.
P-51 Mustang Fighter Pilot


World War II fighter pilot Carl George Tafel, Jr. was born in Louisville in 1920. He joined the army in 1942 after graduating from Purdue with a degree in public engineering. On completion of flight training, he was assigned to one of only three units that flew the celebrated P-51 Mustang.
Carl’s unit was sent to England in May 1944 to join forces gathering for D-Day. He became one of the “Bluenosed Bastards of Bodney”, the 8th Air Force’s 352nd Fighter Group known for the distinctive blue noses of their planes. As Allied troops stormed the Normandy beaches, the 352nd flew 116 sorties over the area. Over 50 years later, a close friend of Carl’s from Louisville recalled the story of a friend flying B-17s out of England. His nerves would be shot as he returned from a long mission over Germany until he saw the P-51 Mustangs led by a plane with a blue nose. Knowing Carl was there reassured the pilot of a safe return.
The Battle of the Bulge began in southern Belgium on December 16, 1944. Carl said that his squadron was barraged by more flak than he had seen in his tour of duty and that he couldn’t bend his knees because the air in the plane was so cold. On December 23, Carl’s unit moved from Bodney to Asch, Belgium. On December 26, 16 pilots from the 457th went out on patrol west of Bonn and ran into some 20 German ME-109s. Carl’s flight captain Ralph Hamilton saw a P-51 go down in flames but didn’t know at the time that it was his no. 2 wing man — Carl. Hamilton opened fire on the 109 and saw the plane crash into a field.

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