Best Kind of War Story - True Tale of Aerial Chivalry
The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident occurred on 20 December 1943, when, after a successful bomb run on Bremen, 2nd Lt Charles "Charlie" Brown's B-17 Flying Fortress (named "Ye Olde Pub") was severely damaged by German fighters. Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler had the opportunity to shoot down the crippled bomber, but did not. After an extensive search by Brown, the two pilots met each other 40 years later and developed a friendship that lasted until Stigler's death in March 2008.
2nd Lt Charles L. "Charlie" Brown ("a farm boy from Weston, West Virginia", in his own words) was a B-17F pilot with the 379th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces' (USAAF) 8th Air Force, stationed at RAF Kimbolton in England. Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria, was a veteran Luftwaffe fighter pilot attached to Jagdgeschwader 27 (fighter band 27); at the time, he had 27 victory tallies to his name and would be eligible for the coveted Knight's Cross with one more downed enemy bomber (the required number of victories was 30). (In Nazi Germany, the shooting down of a bomber aircraft was worth 3 points compared to a fighter's one.)
Brown's B-17 began its 10-minute bomb run at 27,300 ft (8,300 m) with an outside air temperature of −60 °C (−76 °F). Before the bomber released its bomb load, accurate flak shattered the Plexiglas nose, knocked out the number two engine and further damaged the number four engine, which was already in questionable condition and had to be throttled back to prevent overspeeding. The damage slowed the bomber and Brown was unable to remain with his formation and fell back as a straggler – a position from which he came under sustained enemy attacks.
See Video for end of story...
Music: SOS by Dhruva Aliman
https://dhruvaaliman.bandcamp.com/album/what-must-be
http://www.dhruvaaliman.com/
2nd Lt Charles L. "Charlie" Brown ("a farm boy from Weston, West Virginia", in his own words) was a B-17F pilot with the 379th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces' (USAAF) 8th Air Force, stationed at RAF Kimbolton in England. Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria, was a veteran Luftwaffe fighter pilot attached to Jagdgeschwader 27 (fighter band 27); at the time, he had 27 victory tallies to his name and would be eligible for the coveted Knight's Cross with one more downed enemy bomber (the required number of victories was 30). (In Nazi Germany, the shooting down of a bomber aircraft was worth 3 points compared to a fighter's one.)
Brown's B-17 began its 10-minute bomb run at 27,300 ft (8,300 m) with an outside air temperature of −60 °C (−76 °F). Before the bomber released its bomb load, accurate flak shattered the Plexiglas nose, knocked out the number two engine and further damaged the number four engine, which was already in questionable condition and had to be throttled back to prevent overspeeding. The damage slowed the bomber and Brown was unable to remain with his formation and fell back as a straggler – a position from which he came under sustained enemy attacks.
See Video for end of story...
Music: SOS by Dhruva Aliman
https://dhruvaaliman.bandcamp.com/album/what-must-be
http://www.dhruvaaliman.com/
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