Posted on 12/17/2020 5:07:53 PM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com
It was December 20, 1943 and in the freezing air high above Germany, 2nd Lieutenant Charles “Charlie” Brown struggled to keep the mortally damaged American bomber on course.
Brown had been wounded in the shoulder, his tail gunner Sergeant Hugh “Ecky” Eckenrode was dead, and several other members of the crew were wounded, some severely.
Their aircraft, B-17F Ye Olde Pub, had been hit twice by flak as it approached its target, the Focke-Wulf plant in the German city of Bremen, forcing the crew to shut down one of the engines and throttle back on another. This had left it lagging behind the main formation of aircraft from the 379th Bombardment Group and groups of German fighters had closed in like sharks sensing blood in the water.
It was December 20, 1943 and in the freezing air high above Germany, 2nd Lieutenant Charles “Charlie” Brown struggled to keep the mortally damaged American bomber on course.
Brown had been wounded in the shoulder, his tail gunner Sergeant Hugh “Ecky” Eckenrode was dead, and several other members of the crew were wounded, some severely.
Their aircraft, B-17F Ye Olde Pub, had been hit twice by flak as it approached its target, the Focke-Wulf plant in the German city of Bremen, forcing the crew to shut down one of the engines and throttle back on another. This had left it lagging behind the main formation of aircraft from the 379th Bombardment Group and groups of German fighters had closed in like sharks sensing blood in the water.
A B-17F of the 99th Bomb Group, with the nearly frameless clear-view bombardier’s nose
Up to fifteen fighters had attacked the bomber and the whole tail section was shot to pieces, the nosecone was missing, the electrical, hydraulic and oxygen systems were damaged, the radio was out and the entrails of the crippled bomber flapped in the slipstream through gaping rents in the fuselage. But B-17s are tough old birds and this one somehow kept on flying despite the damage.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpAJTURalIM&feature=emb_logo
Brown blacked out for a short time due to pain, loss of blood and a lack of oxygen and the bomber spiraled towards the ground. Ironically, this may have persuaded the attacking fighters that it was finished because none followed it down. Brown came to and realized that the B-17 was only a few hundred feet above the ground. He somehow managed to get it back under control and turned west, towards England and safety, two hundred and fifty miles away.
Brown wasn’t able to coax the B-17 much above one thousand feet and he was vaguely aware that he had passed close to the perimeter of a German airfield. Soon after he realized that a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter was flying in close formation beside him. It was so close that Brown could see the German pilot as he gestured towards the ground, telling Brown to set the bomber down.
VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lp9-cN_Oog&feature=emb_logo
Most of the B-17’s gunners were wounded, only a few guns were still working and none were able to shoot at the enemy fighter alongside. Brown could only look at the German pilot and shake his head. Charlie Brown wasn’t sure if he even had the strength to fly all the way to England, but he certainly wasn’t going to land the bomber in Germany.
For a short time the Messerschmitt flew beside the bomber. Then it slid away, above and behind. Brown waited for the gunfire that must mean the end of Ye Olde Pub. Nothing happened. He realized to his astonishment that the German fighter was flying escort on the B-17. As they crossed the coastline and flew out over the North Sea the fighter remained on station.
Only when they were well out from the German coast did the fighter slide in again, close to the bomber. Brown looked across – the German pilot looked back at him, raised a gloved hand in salute and then swung his aircraft away, back towards the east.
Brown managed to put Ye Olde Pub on the ground, not at their home base in Cambridgeshire but at an airbase of the 448th Bomb Group near Norfolk in East Anglia. He and all his crew other than the tail gunner survived.
At debriefing, Brown told his story about the German fighter which escorted him. It was decided that this should be kept secret – the notion of an honorable German pilot choosing not to shoot down a damaged American bomber just didn’t fit with the message that the USAAF wanted to give out. Aerial photograph of Seething Airfield, England.
Charlie Brown survived the war, went home to go to college, and then re-joined the Air Force in 1949. He served until 1965 when he retired as a colonel. He never told people about the German pilot who had escorted him home in December 1943. It wasn’t until much later, in 1986, at a meeting of retired combat pilots called “Gathering of the Eagles” that he first spoke about what had happened.
The response was strong, though some questioned whether the whole incident really happened. Even Brown began to wonder – his memories of that day in 1943 were hazy due to his injuries, exhaustion and the stress of combat. In retrospect, the notion of a German pilot escorting him over Germany and even saluting as he left the bomber heading towards England did seem unlikely. Could he be remembering it all wrong?
Brown decided that he was going to find the German pilot involved, if only to prove that he hadn’t imagined the whole thing. It took four years, but in 1990 Brown finally received a letter from a man named Stigler who was living in Canada. Stigler explained that he had been the pilot of the German fighter who had escorted Ye Olde Pub.
On December 20, 1943, Franz Stigler had been a twenty-seven kill veteran pilot with Jagdgeschwader 27. He had flown against American bombers in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 that morning and he was refueling on the ground when Ye Olde Pub passed close by. Although Stigler’s aircraft had been damaged in the earlier combat, he took off intending to shoot down the American bomber.
Bf 109G-6 on display in the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków Jinxs Bf 109 G-6 (owned by Fundacja Polskie Orły, on loan in the Polish Aviation Museum in Cracow). Photo by Jinxs CC BY-SA 3.0
However, as he closed with the limping aircraft, he could see just how badly it had been hit – he would later say that he had never seen a more severely damaged aircraft still flying. Through the holes in the fuselage he could see the dead tail gunner and other wounded members of the crew.
The commander of JG27 had told his pilots never to fire at an enemy who was descending on a parachute. While the crew of Ye Olde Pub hadn’t bailed out, they were clearly no longer capable of fighting and Stigler decided that he could not bring himself to attack. New paint for a Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-4 of Jagdgeschwader 27 Photo by Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-431-0710-29A / Doege / CC-BY-SA 3.0
New paint for a Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-4 of Jagdgeschwader 27 Photo by Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-431-0710-29A / Doege / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Instead, he flew alongside and gestured to Brown to land. Stigler later said that this wasn’t particularly because he wanted Brown to surrender – he simply couldn’t imagine that the crippled aircraft could possibly make it back to England.
When Brown refused, Stigler made an extraordinary decision. Instead of shooting it down he flew close formation with the B-17, hoping that this would deter flak batteries on the coast from firing at it. He flew with the bomber well out over the North Sea until it was clear of German airspace, and then left it to continue towards England.
Bob, Jimmy, Robert, Ed, Pop and many others
Yeah, aside from that whole waging war against everybody..twice...and the Holocaust, they were pretty well behaved during the 20th Century. Only came in third on the total body count. Guess they didn't try hard enough.
Adam Makos was the author. His other books are even better.
My folks, from great grandparents aunts and uncles onward, instilled in each of us a sense of honor and right and wrong. In this instance, the German pilot displayed an amount of honor. You don't kill for no reason. The bomber crew was, essentially, defenseless.
World War 1 chivalry amongst airmen. Noble. Honorable. Decent. Human.
Great story. Though the picture of the Stuka is a bit puzzling since we’re talking about a 109 and a B-17.
The point went a mile over your pointy head.
I think we bought it as part of a DVD 4-pack of Hallmark Christmas movies.
Bookmark.
That caught me at first, too.
I watch it every Christmas
A Higher Call by Adam Makos
“Great men have Honor and Respect even to enemies.”
Both were honorable warriors on opposite sides.
Odd story from an RAF friend of mine from the sixties. There was an Island in the Indian Ocean where both RAF and USSR had refueling rights. It was a neutral nation, they just wanted to sell aviation fuel and whiskey at great costs and it is rumored ladies of the night also at great cost.
He was in a bar with his guys and Russians also were there. He said they were just like us. Though if ordered would do their best to kill you in war as would his guys.
I think the Island was the Mauritius Island.
There is honor and respect amongst warriors. Something most people do not know or have.
You are a pretentious prick aren't you. That was called humor a$$ hat.
“World War 1 chivalry amongst airmen. Noble. Honorable. Decent. Human.”
Herman Goring, head of the Luftwaffe, had been a WW1 fighter pilot and had flown with Manfred von Richthofen, the famous Red Baron.
Although he could be horrible in his treatment of civilians, as in the Ukraine, he was much more honorable with captured allied fliers.
As a result the Stalag Luft camps operated by the Luftwaffe gave prisoners better rations and greatly insured a prisoners chance of surviving the war.
One such prisoner was RAF Captain Douglas Badar. Badar had lost both legs in a training accident in 1931. Getting tin prosthetics made he successfully petitioned for reinstatement in the RAF in 1939 and returned to active duty. He claimed his first kill over Dunkirk as the British army was being evacuated.
Bader was shot down over France in 1941. In the process of baling out and trying to evade capture one or both of Baders prosthetics was damaged. When he arrived at the Luftwaffe prison camp he could barely wobble around.
The camp commander received permission from Goring to make arrangements for replacement legs for Nader.
The RAF and Luftwaffe made arrangements for a replacement leg to be dropped at a Luftwaffe airfield in France.
If the Germans had known Bader they wouldn’t have bothered as Bader took his duty to escape very seriously. So seriously that he was sent to Colditz Castle the place the most incorrigible prisoners ended up.
If you think that was humor, you do have a little pointy head.
Yes I recall that. We were at Fredericksburg last year.
I’m biased too. Most of my ancestry is German.
As is most of the non-English American population. Not appreciated is how heavily German we are in America. #1 immigration group since the beginning.
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