Colonel Ralph Parr

[Obergrafeter]

Colonel Ralph Parr a double Ace has "Gone West" at 88 years. Col. Parr was a three war vetran (WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam) most famous for his Korean War Sabre missions.

[muddyboots]

Another great name lost to the long night. He got the last kill of Korea right?

[Obergrafeter]

Another great name lost to the long night. He got the last kill of Korea right?

Another great name lost to the long night. He got the last kill of Korea right?

Not sure, but he did get 10 in Korea, famous for tangling with 10 Migs by himself on one mission and downing 2 before escorting a damaged plane back to base.

[muddyboots]

I always wondered what kind of crazy person would charge ten opponents, knowing they had the same or possibly better equipment...I guess the training might not have been equal, but still. It would take a stiff spine to go after a big pile of enemy aircraft. Although I guess it's not that different than American infantry taking on much larger groups of enemy and eating them up. Training and tactics can make a huge difference.

[Obergrafeter]

Lt. Col. Ken Murray is coming out with Parrs' yet unnammed biography next year. Should be one heck of a good read.

[JDK]

I always wondered what kind of crazy person would charge ten opponents, knowing they had the same or possibly better equipment...

Interesting thought; it's actually a pretty common event in the Great War when comms were visual (no radio calls to join the party). One British ace, IIRC, said he preferred such scenarios as he could shoot at anyone, while they had to check before shooting. He may have been being ironic, of course.

However the history of air combat is full of such events - perhaps we simply know less about those that dived in and weren't lucky enough or good enough to get out at the end for tea and medals.

USAF Biography of Parr:
http://www.af.mil/information/heritage/ ... =123161009

Sounds like Parr's greatest achievements may have been as a tactician, like some other aces venerated for victories when winning bigger, less numerically tangible victories, was their great achievement.

As to Clay's question:
"On July 27, 1953, then Capt. Ralph S. Parr Jr. scored the last aerial victory of the Korean War by shooting down an Ilyushin IL-12 on the day of the armistice."

Regards,

[muddyboots]

I thought I remembered that from somewhere. Probably here!

[PbyCat-Guy]

Wasn't he was battling cancer for a while?

[SaxMan]

I always wondered what kind of crazy person would charge ten opponents, knowing they had the same or possibly better equipment...I guess the training might not have been equal, but still. It would take a stiff spine to go after a big pile of enemy aircraft. Although I guess it's not that different than American infantry taking on much larger groups of enemy and eating them up. Training and tactics can make a huge difference.

I would suppose a person who had absolute confidence in his skills as a dogfighter, which is an essential element all aces have. I know there are several examples of 8AF fighters over Europe diving into furballs when they were outnumbered as much as 8 to 1 by the Luftwaffe, if not more. How many fighters did Jim Howard fight off singlehandedly on his MOH mission?

[P51Mstg]

Jim Howard attacked like 30 German fighters, shot down 3 and drove the rest away.... They were probably scared that there were more like him around....

Mark H

[Randy Haskin]

However the history of air combat is full of such events - perhaps we simply know less about those that dived in and weren't lucky enough or good enough to get out at the end for tea and medals.

Lots of truth to this.

Similar to the idea that you never see pilots performing "good" dogfighting maneuvers on gun camera footage.