Exhibitions
Arrrrgh!
Andrew Jackson recruited the help of pirates during the Battle of New Orleans-- weeks after a treaty actually ending the War of 1812 had been signed.
The 49th Story
Carl Tafel – Bringing Carl Home
For members of the 487th Fighter Squadron, December 26 was a demanding day. Louisville native 1st Lieutenant Carl G. Tafel, Jr. was excited about their mission, and the chance for his first battle kill, The Battle of the Bulge had raged for ten days; bad weather hampered efforts for a counter-offensive. In a letter dated December 21, 1944, Tafel wrote he would let his family “know as soon as I am able about my part in the counter push.”
Lt. Tafel flew his P-51 Mustang fighter to the aid of the P-47 Thunderbolts under enemy attack near Bonn, Germany. During the dogfight, an unidentified American plane went down. When Tafel didn’t return from the mission, he was declared “missing in action.”
Fifteen months later, the remains of an unknown serviceman buried next to a crashed P-51 were discovered near Liers, Germany. The German military had buried the officer and placed a wooden cross over the grave, marking it “Pilot-V-413953-GEF-26-12-1944.”
Lt. Tafel was no longer missing. In March 1946, the Army re-interred his remains in the National Cemetery at Hann, Luxembourg. Later, his family chose to bring him home for good, to rest in the family plot in Cave Hill Cemetery.
His story submission by Carla Schell…
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.
The news that Carl was missing in action did not arrive at the Tafel home until January 14, 1945. His makeshift gravesite, created by a German policeman who found his downed plane, was located in August by his brother-in-law, Addison Dimmitt. The Army finally changed Carl’s status from MIA to KIA on July 14, a few months after V-E Day. Carl’s remains were later moved to a military cemetery in Luxemburg. In 1948, Carl’s family was finally able to bring him home for burial in Louisville’s Cave Hill cemetery.
In 1946, a portrait of Carl was included in an exhibition at the Speed Museum honoring those “young Louisvillans, young men of great promise who gave their lives in World War II.” In 1999, a plaque honoring Carl was placed at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Heritage Museum Memorial Garden outside Savannah, Georgia.
The 49th Story unveiling on January 28, 2010
