Located in front of the Red Bluff City Hall is a memorial dedicated to Ken Carlson, a Red Bluff native and hometown hero. It reads:
In Memory
KEN CARLSON
WORLD WAR II ACE
KEN WENT TO WAR AGAINST THE GERMANS WITH THE AMERICAN EAGLE SQUADRON IN 1940. HE BECAME AN ACE BEFORE THE U.S.A. ENTERED THE WAR AGAINST GERMANY.
HE SHOT DOWN 13 GERMAN AIRCRAFT IN THE WAR TORN SKIES OVER ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN WORLD WAR II. KEN WAS SHOT DOWN TWICE BY GROUND FIRE WHILE STRAFING GERMAN AIR FIELDS. EACH TIME HE ESCAPED AND MADE HIS WAY THROUGH THE "FRENCH UNDERGROUND" BACK TO ENGLAND. TWO DAYS LATER HE WAS FIGHTING THE GERMANS.
IN KOREA, KEN WAS THE FIRST MAN TO SHOOT DOWN A RUSSIAN MIG JET WITH AN OBSOLETE P-51 FIGHTER.
A BOMB HUNG UP IN THE SAME AIRPLANE AND BLEW UP ON LANDING, TEARING THE P-51 APART. May God Bless This Boy
"Who once did so much for America - and for all of us" |
Ken's feat with a MiG kill is all that more impressive for the reason that the P-51 was a prop-plane compared to the fighter jet status of the MiG-(15?). I've tried to do some research to find out if Ken died when his plane blew to pieces upon landing after his MiG kill but couldn't find anything. I did manage to locate numerous websites and books mentioning his WWII kills while a P-47 and P-51 pilot. One particular book titled Night of the Intruders: The Slaughter of Homeward Bound USAAF Mission 311 highlights Ken Carslon and reads:
First Lieutenant Kendall E Carlson originally found himself in the centre of the first Messerschmidt carousel, briefly firing at four or five different aircraft in the mad merry-go-round. Results were inconclusive. Then, seeing two more vulnerable Me109s below, he flicked out of the circle and bounced them. Seeing him, they climbed steeply to starboard but it was too late for the second machine, Carlson's bullets smashed into the engine and cockpit, setting it on fire. Rolling over, the pilot baled out just as Carslon's number two, Second Lieutenant Donald R Emerson, opened fire. Seeing the pilot leaping clear, Emerson ceased fire but these circumstances might account for the loss of Lieutenant Joachim Gohre. German archives say simply, "after an attack with P-51 he baled out and was shot at 800 m in the chest and died. Attack planes not recognized. Body was recovered and buried in home town of Eberswalde".
Starting to climb, Carlson heard Blakeslee's command for a starboard turn. This helped him identify three or four Me109s scuttling over the terrain. Diving in pursuit, Carlson and Emerson saw Blakeslee in WD-C get one and another p-51 destroyed a second before they got there. Climbing again, Carlson glimpsed a lone Me109 sneaking down a ravine and, once again, both P-51s powered down in pursuit. Firing, Carlson got a few hits, so did Emerson. Throttles fully open, they streaked low over the countryside. Firing again, their bullets scythed into the rooftops of a small town. Emerson's ammunition was exhausted, Carlson had only a few rounds left and could not help but admire the German pilot's skill, weaving and dodging, hugging the landscape. Firing again as the '109 flitted across his gunsight, Carlson used the last of his ammunition - then, momentarily, he lost his opponent. A second later, he saw the '109 curve earthwards, crashing into a large clump of trees. A morbid pyre of black smoke burgeoned skywards as the victorious P-51s swept upwards to rejoin the Group.
Ken Carlson flew with the 4th Fighter Group, 8th Fighter Command, 8th U.S.A.A.F. He was known as 'The Swede', and apparently a big, gentle man. There are some good accounts of him in the two books by Colonel Jim Goodson, a top-scoring ace who was also in the R.A.F., the Eagle squadrons, and then 4th Fighter Group. The books are:
Tumult in the Clouds, James A Goodson and The Last of the Knights, James A Goodson.
I would love to obtain additional information on Ken Carlson. The only other info I know is that held the rank of Major during the Korean War.