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Once in a while, you hear an old war story that restores your faith in humanity. Usually it involves a moment of quiet in the midst of chaos, some singing or the sharing of a few beverages. But how many of these stories take place in mid-air?
This is the remarkable story of a crippled American bomber spared by a German fighter pilot. After the pilots of the two planes had a mid-air moment of understanding, it didn't seem likely that they'd ever see one another again. Only they did, and became closer than brothers.
It was a few days before Christmas in 1943, and the Allied bombing campaign in Germany was going at full tilt. Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown was a freshly minted bomber pilot, and he and his crew were about to embark upon their first mission — to hit an aircraft factory in northern Germany.
Brown's B-17F Flying Fortress, dubbed Ye Olde Pub, was typical of American heavy bombers of the time. Along with a 3,628kg bomb capacity, the four-engine plane was armed with 11 machine guns and strategically placed armour plating. B-17s cruised at an altitude of about 8,230m, but weren't pressurised. At that altitude, the air is thin and cold — 60 degrees below zero. Pilots and crew relied upon an on-board oxygen system and really warm flight suits with heated shoes.
As Ye Olde Pub approached Bremen in Germany, anti-aircraft batteries opened up on the formation. Unfortunately for the pilots and crew of Ye Olde Pub, one of the anti-aircraft rounds exploded right in front of their plane, destroying the number two engine and damaging number four. Missing one engine and with another throttled back due to damage, Ye Olde Pub could no longer keep up with the formation.
B-17s were known for being able to soak up a lot of bullets and anti-aircraft flak and still make it home, but that came at a cost. The armour-plating protecting the crew and vital areas of the plane was heavy and affected the cruising speed. Although armed with a number of heavy machine gun turrets, there were still areas of the aircraft that were vulnerable to attack by enemy fighter planes. The U.S. Army Air Corps addressed this problem by placing many planes in a staggered formation that meant bombs could be dropped, while some planes covered the defensive gaps of other planes in the formation using overlapping fields of fire.
The drawback to this arrangement was that individual planes couldn't take evasive manoeuvres (as they would risk damage from friendly bombs or machine gun fire) and stragglers were completely open to attack by enemy aircraft. Think about a small group of quick, agile cowboys chasing a herd of buffalo. They're both dangerous to one another, but if one lumbering buffalo leaves the safety of the group, there's not much hope for it.
B-17F formation over Schweinfurt, Germany, August 17, 1943
Things went from bad to worse for Brown and his crew. Falling behind the formation, Ye Olde Pub weathered merciless attacks from fifteen German fighter planes. The bomber's machine guns took down one of them, but the damage they sustained was immense. The tail gunner was killed and four of the crew were injured, including Brown who caught a bullet fragment in his right shoulder. The only defensive guns left in service were the top turret and the nose gun, and the bomber's hydraulics and oxygen systems had also been knocked out. The plane went into a spiral, plummeting earthward.
What happened next is according to the memory of Brown, who told interviewers years later that his mind was a bit hazy at the time as his shoulder was bleeding and he needed oxygen.
Ye Olde Pub was spared further harassment by enemy fighters. Somehow, he and the co-pilot managed to get the plane flying level again at about 300m of elevation.
On the way out to sea, Ye Olde Pub passed a German airfield. Lt. Franz Stigler, a Luftwaffe fighter pilot, had just returned after shooting down two B-17s and saw Ye Olde Pub limp by. Naturally, he scrambled to give chase, but what he saw arrested any aggression he may have had. He told interviewers in 1991 that he had been aghast at the amount of damage the bomber had sustained. Its nose cone was missing, and it had several gaping holes in the fuselage. He could see crew members giving first aid to the wounded, and most of the plane's guns hung limp, unmanned as they were.
Stigler kept his distance, staying out of the line of fire of the two guns still in service, but he managed to fly within 6m of the bullet riddled B-17. He tried to contact Brown with hand signals.
His message was simple: Land your plane in Germany and surrender, or fly to Sweden. That heap will never make it back to England.
A bewildered Brown stared back through his side window, not believing what he was seeing. He had already counted himself as a casualty numerous times. But this strange German pilot kept gesturing at him. There was no way he was going to land the plane but the pilot stayed with him, keeping other attackers off until they reached the North Sea. When it was clear that Brown wasn't staying in Germany, Stigler saluted, peeled off and flew out of Ye Olde Pub's nightmarish day.
The bomber made it back to England, scarcely able to keep 75m between itself and the ground by the time it landed in a smoking pile of exhausted men and shredded aluminium. Years later, Brown would say that if Stigler had been able to talk to him with the offer of landing in Germany or flying to Sweden, he probably would have gone to Sweden. But Ye Olde Pub did make it and Brown had a much-needed stiff drink handed to him when he got off the plane.
This severely damaged B-17 continued to fly after an attacking Bf 109 fighter collided with the aircraft. The B-17 flew home and landed in this condition without major injuries to any of the crew members.
The incredulous debriefing officer, wowed by Brown's story, went off to tell the top brass what had happened. He recommended Brown's crew for a citation, but the glory was short-lived. The top brass quickly decided that if word got out about a chivalrous German fighter pilot, it could endanger the lives of other crews if it caused them to let their guard down. All details of Ye Olde Pub's first mission were classified as Secret.
Stigler was not able to speak of his actions that day either, as it would have meant a certain court martial. He flew many more missions though, becoming one of the world's first jet fighter pilots. By the war's end, he was one of only about 1,300 surviving Luftwaffe pilots. Some 28,000 had served.
After years of searching vainly for U.S. and German Air Force records that might shed some light on who the pilot was, Brown hadn't come up with much. So he wrote a letter in a combat pilot association newsletter. A few months later, Brown received a letter from Canada. It was from Stigler. "I was the one," it said. When they spoke on the phone, Stigler described his plane, the salute; everything Brown needed to hear to know it wasn't a hoax.
From 1990 to 2008, Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler became like brothers. Introduced by the bond of that first powerful meeting, their friendship was cemented over the years. The two men remained close throughout the rest of their lives, dying within several months of each other in 2008.
Their story proves to all that something great done now can change your life much, much later.
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