On December 20, 1943, pilot Charlie Brown and his crew, part of the 379th Bomb Group out of RAF Kimbolton, England, were on their first mission

On December 20, 1943, pilot Charlie Brown and his crew, part of the 379th Bomb Group out of RAF Kimbolton, England, were on their first mission. That day’s target was a Focke-Wulf factory in Bremen, Germany.

Their B-17, Ye Olde Pub, was heavily damaged on the bomb run by flak - the plexi glass nose was shattered, the number 2 engine was destroyed and the number 4 engine was barely functioning. As a result of all the damage, Ye Olde Pub fell behind in formation which made it an easy target for the German fighter planes.

A group of Me-109s and FW-190s saw the B-17 limping along and promptly attacked it until it went into a dive and appeared to be crashing. In reality, Charlie Brown had passed out after the oxygen system was shot out and regained consciousness just in time to pull the plane out of the dive and level it off a tree top level.

Determined to make it back to England, Charlie continued on despite the major damage, including the vertical stabilizer being almost completely destroyed.

While refueling on the ground, German Ace Franz Stigler spotted Ye Olde Pub flying overhead. With 27 kills to his credit, the heavy bomber (which was worth 3 credits) would get Stigler to the magic number of 30 and thereby earning him the much coveted Knight’s Cross.

Stigler got back into his plane and quickly chased down the B-17. As he approached from behind, Stigler found it odd that the tail gunner did not even raise his guns to fire. What Stigler did not know right away was that the tail gunner was already dead, most of the crew was injured, and that only 3 the 50 caliber machine guns were functioning.

As Stigler got closer, he saw the tail gunner slumped over his guns and saw the extent of damage the ship had sustained, later saying “it was the most badly damaged aircraft I had ever seen still flying”. He recalled a superior officer who was angry over reports of his German pilots shooting at American crewmen in parachutes.

He told his men that above all they were fighter pilots and he expected a certain amount of respect to be shown to any foe. If a man was bailing out, he argued, you had done your job and beaten him as a fighter pilot - there was no reason to then kill a now defenseless man.

That officer also said if he heard of any of his men shooting at men in parachutes, he would pull out his gun and shoot the offending officer himself. To Stigler, to shoot down this already damaged plane would be the equivalent of shooting a man in a parachute. In that moment, Stigler decided to spare the plane and try to get them to land and surrender in Germany or to land in neutral Switzerland.

Charlie Brown and his crew were horrified when they looked out over their right wing and saw the Me-109 flying next to them. The German pilot gestured for them to land to no avail. He switched to the pilot’s side of the plane to try again, but Brown did not comprehend what Stigler was saying.

As they approached the European coast Stigler knew the battered B-17 would never survive the anti-aircraft guns that were stationed there, so he decided to risk his life and his career by providing cover for them. Stigler knew the spotters at the anti aircraft guns would recognize a Me-109 and not fire on him.

He was not sure if they would assume the B-17 was a German plane, but he gambled on them holding their fire, which they did. The unlikely duo of a Me-109 and a B-17 sailed over the anti aircraft guns and made it over the English Channel. Stigler doubted Ye Olde Pub would make it across the channel, but he saluted Brown, silently wished him luck, and turned back for Germany. He would not speak of this incident for over 40 years.

Defying the odds, Ye Olde Pub did make it back to England and landed at Seething. Brown recounted his story at his debriefing where he was almost immediately told to never speak of his experience again. The logic for this being two-fold: one, the Allies did not want the Germans to receive any positive press; and two, the Air Force was worried that other crews might expect to get similar treatment from German fighter pilots and get killed in the process. Brown and his crew followed orders and did not tell anyone about the ‘crazy German’ who escorted them to safety.

Both pilots thought of the incident over the years and each wondered what happened to the other. Brown knew the odds of Stigler having survived the war were marginal – of the 28,000 German fighter pilots who flew in the war, only about 1200 are estimated to have survived. In 1986, with help of Adolph Galland, Brown put an ad in a German pilots magazine and asked if anyone knew who the pilot who saved his life might be.

To his astonishment, he received a letter from Franz Stigler, who now lived in Canada, and claimed to be the German pilot in question. Through various details Stigler was able to provide, Brown knew he had found the right man. The two met and became the best of friends – Charlie Brown and the surviving crew members had their children and grandchildren meet the man who spared their lives.

Brown and Stigler even came to this museum together to discuss their incredible story. Charlie Brown spoke at length about how grateful he is to Franz Stigler. When it was Stigler’s time to talk he stood up and said, “Charlie, if I had known you were going to talk so much, I would have gone ahead and shot you down.” Both pilots died in 2008 within months of each other.

To learn more please read "A Higher Call" by Adam Makos and Larry Alexander

From the Collection

National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force

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