For those with an interest in B17's

I got sent this by a friend in the US:

Charlie Brown's B-17 Bomber Story

Photo of the Me 109 and B-17 was taken by Steigler's wingman who broke off because of shortage of fuel.

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 over 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, he '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 blood-stained plane.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/ArtistsRifles/B17/B17_story1.jpg[/img]

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 post-war 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

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/ArtistsRifles/B17/B17_story2.jpg[/img]

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!!

Don't know about anyone else but for me it's a boost to the spirits to find that even in the carnage & horrors of war some people can still act with honour and integrity!!

Original story up on the web at www.aviationartstore.com and written by Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette.

Reproduced here by kind permission of the author.

Edit: Original web location and authors name added.

That my old mate Neil - is a truly inspiring story. Can't say much more than that.

A great story, thanks for posting.

It's good to be able to read about acts such as this, but I just hope we are spared having to experience the real thing...........

Tony

Excellent Neil.

Neil,

I was going to ask you about the painting you posted, but have just found it by an internet search.

If anyone is interested (no wallspace left but am so taken by the story I will try to get one :whistle:), it is available as a 11" x 15" print from http://www.stormbirdsannex.com - look under Aircraft Art - Iverson, it is titled "An Act of Chivalry". Looks to be a fine art print at approx. £18 plus postage. The detail is very good - two tasters at full resolution on the site.

There is also a description of the incident, which I have blatantly copied as it gives another take on the story.

This fascinating event occurred in December of 1943 when Charles Brown and the crew of "Ye Olde Pub" were nursing their badly damaged B-17 back home. They happened to fly directly over Oberleutnant Franz Stigler's fighter base. Stigler had already shot down two other B-17s that day and quickly took off and caught up with Ye Olde Pub to make it kill number three.

As Stigler moved in to fire, he noticed how badly damaged the B-17 was. There were gaping holes in the fuselage and half the rudder and horizontal stabilizer was shot off. The tail gunner did not fire, so he closed in and could see blood dripping off the .50 caliber tail guns. Inside, Stigler could see the crew members frantically tending to the wounded. At that point, he felt that shooting down the aircraft would be like shooting men in their parachutes.

Stigler pulled up along side the B-17 and motioned for Brown to land in Sweden. However, Brown continued towards home. When they reached the coast, Stigler saluted, pulled up and flew back to base. If his actions had become know, he would have been court-martialed and possibly shot for letting an enemy bomber escape.

Amazing.

There are other stories similar to this, but very few are made public, and that is a shame. I've heard a few when speaking directly to veterans, but most don't get passed around, or don't have an ending where the two sides meet up years later.

Steve

What an AMAZING story:

Dunno about you, but it gave me a warm feeling, reading both accounts of events, that day.

A tribute to an Honourable man.

Cheers for posting this.

Andy