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American History

Great Daring Moments From History

Josip Broz Tito - World War II
Yugoslav partisans wading across a river. Wikimedia

Some among us are just naturally more daring than the rest of humanity. The lucky amongst us might go through life without facing a dire situation requiring us to dig deep and find the daring devil within. Many are not so fortunate, however, and end up in serious jams that call for every last ounce of daring that they can muster. Following are thirty-six things about daring moves people used throughout history.

36. A Daring Escape

Bruce Carr in front of his P-51 Mustang. Aviation Geek Club

World War II has no shortage of daring moves. However, few feats of daring heroism during that or any other conflict could match the daring escape of US Army Air Forces Second Lieutenant Bruce Ward Carr (1924 – 1998) from the Nazis’ clutches.

Carr holds the distinction of being the only USAAF pilot to leave on a combat mission flying an American plane, and return to base flying a German one. It happened in November of 1944, when Carr flew a strafing mission in P-51 fighter but was shot down over enemy territory. As seen below, he evaded capture, then stole an FW190 fighter from a German airfield and flew it back home.

Written by

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.

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