She was educated at Oxford High School and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She first married Gabriel Toyne (marriage dissolved) and then Sir Robert Barlow (knighted 1943) who pre-deceased her. Her entries in Who's Who in the Theatre record her private address as 10 Duke Street, Adelphi, London WC2 (1936), Flat 12, 72 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 (1939), then finally Rocketer Farm, Wendover, Buckinghamshire (from 1947 onwards). She was a co-founder of Equity, serving as a Council member for 30 years and was twice appointed Vice-President, in 1973–74 and 1975–76.
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This margin allowed him to eventually mount a total of six bazookas, three per side on the lift struts as other L-4s had done.. Within a few weeks, Carpenter was credited with knocking out a German armored car and four tanks. Carpenter's plane was known as "Rosie the Rocketer", and his exploits were soon featured in numerous press accounts, including Stars and Stripes, the Associated Press, Popular Science, The New York Sun, and Liberty Magazine. Carpenter once told a reporter that his idea of fighting a war was to "attack, attack and then attack again."Gallagher, Wes, Major Charles Carpenter, Once History Teacher, Now Legend in Patton's Army, The Rock Island Argus, 26 September 1944 During the critical late- September Battle of Arracourt, Carpenter managed to achieve disabling hits on several German armored cars and even two Panther tanks, along with killing or wounding a dozen or more enemy soldiers.
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184–193 While the advancing Germans were continually exposed to American fire, U.S. armor was able to maneuver into favourable defensive positions, staying hidden until the German armour had closed to within effective range then inflicting heavy casualties. The fog that had allowed German forces tactical surprise and protection from U.S. air attack also negated the superior range of their tank guns. From 20 to 25 September, Fifth Panzer Army ordered the 111th Panzer Brigade and the understrength 11th Panzer Division into a series of disjointed attacks against the Arracourt position. On 20 September, Panther tanks moved towards CCA's headquarters component, and several 4th Armored Division support units were pinned down or trapped by the German advance.Gallagher, Wes, Charlie Fights Nazi Tanks in Cub Armed With Bazookas, The New York Sun, 2 October 1944Fox, Don M. and Blumenson, Martin, Patton's Vanguard: The United States Army's Fourth Armored Division, McFarland, , 9780786430949 (2007), pp. 142-143 An Army observation pilot, Major "Bazooka Charlie" Carpenter took to the air with his bazooka-armed L-4 Cub, USAAF serial number 43-30426 and nicknamed Rosie the Rocketer, to attack the enemy.
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270Bishop, Chris, The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., (2002), p. 431 All L-4 models, as well as similar, tandem-cockpit accommodation aircraft from Aeronca and Taylorcraft, were collectively nicknamed "Grasshoppers", though the L-4 was almost universally referred to by its civilian designation of Cub. The L-4 was used extensively in World War II for reconnaissance, transporting supplies, artillery spotting duties and medical evacuation of wounded soldiers. During the Allied invasion of France in June 1944, the L-4's slow cruising speed and low-level maneuverability made it an ideal observation platform for spotting hidden German armor waiting in ambush in the hedgerowed bocage country south of the invasion beaches. For these operations, the pilot generally carried both an observer/radio operator and a 25-pound communications radio, a load that often exceeded the plane's specified weight capacity. After the Allied breakout in France, L-4s were also sometimes equipped with improvised racks, usually in pairs or quartets, of infantry bazookas for ground attack (actually a form of top attack) against German armored units. The most famous of these L-4 ground attack planes was Rosie the Rocketer, piloted by Maj.
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