Bazooka Charlie - The Unbelievable Story of Major Charles Carpenter and Rosie The Rocketer.
Jim Busha will be guest speaker for the Sentimental Journey Fly-in banquet June 23 in the Piper Aviation Museum. The Fly-in runs from June 20-24 at the William T. Piper Memorial Airport. Busha joined EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) in October 2014 as Director of Publications, where he had responsibility for all of EAA’s print and electronic publications including EAA’s flagship magazine, Sport Aviation, and EAA’s publications for its special interest communities. He accepted additional responsibilities over the EAA marketing team in August 2019. In his new role, Busha will continue his involvement in EAA’s Vintage Airplane and Warbirds magazines.
A longtime pilot, Busha currently owns and flies a Stinson L-5. He has contributed to many aviation publications and journals, including to EAA publications for more than two decades. Busha has had several books published, most recently as a co-author of EAA Oshkosh – The Best AirVenture Photography, published in 2017. He initially came to EAA after a 30-year career with the Oshkosh Police Department, retiring as a detective/lieutenant. Jim has recently co-authored a book with Carol Carpenter Apacki - “Bazooka Charlie - The Unbelievable Story of Major Charles Carpenter and Rosie The Rocketer”. Major Charles Carpenter made headlines during the Second World War when he affixed six bazooka rocket launchers to his tiny Piper L-4 Grasshopper (military version of the iconic Piper J-3 Cub) observation plane and began attacking German tanks. “Bazooka Charlie”; and his plane “Rosie the Rocketer” were profiled in a variety of military and civilian publications, including the iconic Stars & Stripes. The major was a high school educator in the civilian world, teaching history and coaching football. Carpenter was talented, highly intelligent, and athletically gifted, but the war truly tested him. In 1945, the dashing pilot was forced out of the cockpit and into a hospital bed by Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which was discovered in his neck. In addition to the enemy and terminal cancer, Carpenter also battled cynicism and guilt, particularly in regard to the state of his marriage, which was on the brink of failure by the time he returned home from Europe. Charles Carpenter died in 1966, having resumed his career, salvaged his marriage, and long outlived the timeline afforded him by his doctors in the initial prognosis.
This revealing biography of the famous pilot was made possible through the collaboration of noted aviation author and magazine editor Jim Busha, and Carpenter’s daughter, Carol Apacki. Along with memories of her father in his postwar years, Carol provided a treasure trove of wartime correspondence between Charles and his wife, Elda Carpenter.
Books will be available in the Piper Aviation Museum gift shop and on-field gift shop during the fly-in. Jim will be signing books at the banquet Friday June 23.
RSVP for the banquet ($30 each) by June 15, and please make payment to Sentimental Journey by June 15. For more information call 570-893-4200 or email J3Cub@kcnet.org
