Quite a story.
An amazing aircraft.
A very interesting story, and a salute from one
aviator to another.
Charlie Brown was a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot
with the 379th Bomber
Group at Kimbolton, England. His B-17 was called
'Ye Old Pub' and was
in a terrible state, having been hit by flak and
fighters. The compass
was damaged and they were flying deeper into enemy
territory instead
of heading home to Kimbolton.
After flying over an enemy airfield, a pilot named
Franz Steigler was
ordered to take off and shoot down the B-17. When
he got near the
B-17, he could not believe his eyes. In his words,
We 'had never seen
a plane in such a bad state'. The tail and rear
section was severely
damaged, and the tail gunner wounded. The top
gunner was all over the
top of the fuselage. The nose was smashed and
there were holes
everywhere.
Despite having ammunition, Franz flew to the side
of the B-17 and
looked at Charlie Brown, the pilot. Brown was
scared and struggling to
control his damaged and bloodstained plane.
Aware that they had no idea where they were going,
Franz waved at
Charlie to turn 180 degrees. Franz escorted and
guided the stricken
plane to and slightly over the North Sea towards
England. He then
saluted Charlie Brown and turned away, back to
Europe.
When Franz landed he told the c/o that the plane
had been shot down
over the sea, and never told the truth to anybody.
Charlie Brown and
the remains of his crew told all at their
briefing, but were ordered
never to talk about it.
More than 40 years later, Charlie Brown wanted to
find the Luftwaffe
pilot who saved the crew. After years of research,
Franz was found. He
had never talked about the incident, not even at
postwar reunions.
They met in the USA at a 379th Bomber Group
reunion, together with 25
people who are alive now - all because Franz never
fired his guns that
day.
Research shows that Charlie Brown lived in Seattle
and Franz Steigler
had moved to Vancouver, BC after the war. When
they finally met, they
discovered they had lived less than 200 miles
apart for the past 50
years!!
Chris Chandler of the 8th Air Force Historical Society. He has a video and pictures of the event, and can be contacted on 01234 211026 or at usaaf379bg@aol.com. Please See:
BBC - WW2 People's War - Saved by a Luftwaffe Pilot
