Encounter between Franz Stigler and Charles Brown

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The encounter between Franz Stigler and Charles Brown took place in the sky over Germany during the Second World War . On December 20, 1943, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 of the German fighter pilot Franz Stigler (* 1915 in Regensburg ; † March 22, 2008 near Vancouver ) and the B-17 Flying Fortress of the American bomber pilot Charles "Charlie" L. Brown (* 1922; † November 24, 2008 in Miami ) each other. Shot Stigler there was the B-17 badly damaged already by enemy fire and much of the crew dead or wounded, not from, but led them disobeyed orders over the flak cordon away up on the North Sea . According to his own statement, he acted for humanitarian reasons.

procedure

The B-17, nicknamed Ye Olde Pub , belonged to the 379th Bomb Group and was stationed on an English airfield. On December 20, 1943, as part of an association, the machine was supposed to attack an armaments factory near Bremen . It was 2nd Lt. Brown's first assignment as the group's bomber commander. The attack succeeded, but the machine was damaged by anti-aircraft fire. One engine failed and another was damaged, preventing it from maintaining speed and falling behind the rest of the formation's planes. This made them an easy target for further attacks by German fighters, which severely damaged the B-17, killing the rear gunner, and wounding almost all of the remaining crew members. Brown was injured in the shoulder and temporarily passed out from the damaged oxygen supply .

Franz Stigler noticed the very low flying machine when his Bf 109 was refueled and ammunitioned on the Jever airfield (near Oldenburg ). Stigler rose immediately and followed her. At this point in time he had already won 22 victories, and he was still missing another one to be awarded the Knight's Cross . Stigler approached the attack from behind and was amazed at the lack of defensive fire. He recognized the damage, the dead, the wounded and the defenseless situation of the opposing crew. He picked up the rosary in his flight jacket and decided not to attack the machine. He later stated that he equated the situation of the Americans with that of crew members who jumped with parachutes . Their killing was assessed by his superior Gustav Rödel as deeply dishonorable and inhuman. Instead, he flew close to the enemy machine and made eye contact with Brown. Since Stigler was aware that his behavior could be punished with death as treason , he tried to get the Americans to land with gestures and hand signals, but this was not understood or rejected by Commander Brown. He was also unable to convey his idea that the bomber could land in neutral Sweden .

The formation flight with a German machine protected the B-17 from anti-aircraft fire. Since the Luftwaffe also used captured aircraft , such a joint flight of a Bf 109 with a B-17 was very unusual, but not completely absurd. Meanwhile, Brown, still suspicious of the situation, had a machine gun aimed at Stigler's Bf 109. When the B-17 reached the North Sea, Stigler saluted Brown, turned and landed at Bremen Airport for repairs .

The Ye Olde Pub landed safely in Norfolk ; Brown immediately reported the incident to his manager and was sworn to maintain confidentiality. He did everything in his power to fly a mission with his crew again soon.

At first, Stigler did not tell anyone except his wife about the events. It was not until the summer of 1990 that he told Adolf Galland about it.

After the war

Brown retired in Miami after further deployments in the World War and in the Vietnam War , Stigler continued to serve until the end of the war and emigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1953 . Brown tried all his life to fathom the motives of the German pilot, but Stigler wondered whether the B-17 had made it to England. In 1987, Brown began looking primarily in archives. Thanks to the support of Adolf Galland, the Jägerblatt , the magazine of the community of German fighter pilots , published a letter from him. Thereupon Stigler contacted him in 1990. From then on, the men and their women formed a close friendship.

  • The events were discussed in a book published in 2013 ( A higher call ). The book was published in German in 2017.
  • The Swedish metal band Sabaton dedicated the song "No Bullets Fly", which appeared on the album Heroes, to the incident.

literature

  • Adam Makos, Larry Alexander: A Higher Call . An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II. Penguin, New York 2012, ISBN 978-1-101-61895-0 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
    • Adam Makos. With Larry Alexander: A higher duty: how a German pilot gave his American enemy his life in World War II . Translator: Helmut Reuter. Riva 2014, ISBN 978-3-86883-397-3

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christian Eckl: Regensburg's forgotten hero is a real icon overseas. In: wochenblatt.de. December 8, 2011, accessed January 8, 2015 .
  2. ^ Obituary for Charles L. Brown in the Miami Herald, December 7, 2008, online at www.legacy.com .
  3. ↑ a b c d Honor in the skies: The day a chivalrous German flying ace saluted a crippled US bomber and let them fly to safety instead of shooting them down. In: MailOnline. Associated Newspapers Ltd., December 9, 2012, accessed January 8, 2015 .
  4. ↑ a b c Maureen Callahan: Amazing tale of a desperate WWII pilot's encounter with a German flying ace. In: New York Post. NYP Holdings, Inc., December 9, 2012, accessed January 8, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Martin Eich: A gentleman in the Messerschmitt . In: FAZ of December 19, 2017, p. 7.
  6. ↑ a b John Blake: Two enemies discover a 'higher call' in battle. In: CNN International. March 9, 2013, accessed January 8, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Interviews (English). Retrieved September 21, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Adam Makos. With Larry Alexander: A higher duty ... , p. 198f
  9. ↑ Adam Makos. With Larry Alexander: A higher duty ... , p. 344
  10. ↑ Adam Makos. With Larry Alexander: A higher duty ... , p. 338
  11. ↑ see #Literature
  12. ↑ No Bullets Fly. In: Sabaton Official Website. Retrieved August 6, 2020 (American English).