Incident with Charles Brown and Franz Stiegler

Second Lieutenant Charles L. “Charlie” Brown (calling himself “a farmer boy from Weston , West Virginia ”) was a pilot of the B-17F of the 379th Bombing Group of the 8th Air Force of the US Air Force , which was located at the Kimbolton base in England ^{[2 ] [3]} . Franz Stiegler, a former pilot of the Bavarian airline, was a Luftwaffe fighter pilot with the Jagdgeschwader 27 . At that time, he had 29 air victories on his account, and until the coveted knight's cross of the Iron Cross he was missing only one downed enemy (the necessary number of victories was 30) ^{[4] [5]} .

This was the first combat flight for the B-17 crew, the target was the Bremen aircraft factory, where the Focke-Wulf 190 was produced. The personnel of the 527th squadron of bombers were informed at a briefing before the mission that they could face hundreds of German fighters. Bremen air defense artillery totaled 250 anti-aircraft guns. Brown’s crew received orders to fly to Purple Heart , a place on the edge of a battle formation that was considered especially dangerous because the Germans fired at the edges rather than the center of the battle formation of the bombers. However, since one bomber had to turn back due to technical problems, Brown was ordered to move forward to the beginning of the line ^[6] .

The crew of the B-17 that day were:

• Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown: Pilot / Airplane Commander ^[7]
• Second Lieutenant Spencer Pinky Luke: Co-pilot ^[7]
• Second Lieutenant Al Doc Zadok: Navigator ^[8]
• Second Lieutenant Robert Andy Andrews: Scorer ^[8]
• Sergeant Bertrund “The Frenchman” Coulomb: Chief Gunner and Flight Engineer ^[9]
• Sergeant Dick Pechut: The Cameraman ^[10]
• Sergeant Hugh "Eki" Ekenrod: Tail Gunner ^[10]
• Sergeant Lloyd Jennings: Left Fuselage Shooter ^[10]
• Sergeant Alex “Russian” Yelesanko: right fuselage shooter ^[10]
• Sergeant Sam Blackie Blackford: The Gunner Shooter ^[10]

Goal Goal

B-17 Brown began a 10-minute approach to the target to perform bombing at an altitude of 8300 m at a temperature of −60 ° C. Even before the bombing bombs were empty, a close-up of an anti-aircraft projectile destroyed the plexiglass nose cone, hit the second engine and damaged the fourth one, which was already faulty and worked at reduced speed to prevent spillage. The resulting injuries slowed down the flight speed of the bomber, Brown could not stay with his formation and lagged behind the group, as a result, the plane came under prolonged attack by the enemy ^[11] .

Fighter Attacks

The lagging B-17 Brown was attacked by more than a dozen enemy Jagdgeschwader 11 wing fighters ( Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 ), the attack lasted more than 10 minutes ^[12] . The plane received even more damage, in particular, the third engine was damaged, because of which it worked only at half the power. This meant that the aircraft had at best 40% of its total rated power. The internal oxygen, hydraulic and electrical systems of the bomber were also damaged, the plane lost half of its rudder and left elevator, as well as the nose fairing. Most of the machine guns jammed. Probably, the failure of the on-board systems led to the freezing of the mechanisms (before departure, the weapons were not properly lubricated), as a result, the bomber could fire only from two machine guns of the upper turret and from one bow ^[13] . Most of the crew was incapacitated: the tail gunner Ekenrod was killed by a direct hit by a cannon shell in the head, Elesanko seriously injured his leg with shrapnel, Blackford got frostbite due to a short circuit in the heating cable in his overalls, Pechutu got into the eye with a shell, and Brown was injured in the right shoulder. Morphine in syringe tubes froze, complicating the provision of first aid. The radio station was destroyed, the plane received severe external damage. Despite this, everyone except Ekenrode survived ^[14] .

Franz Stiegler

The Germans noticed the damaged Brown bomber from the ground, including Franz Stiegler (then had 27 victories), who refueled and replenished the ammunition at the airfield. Soon he took off on his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 and quickly caught up with the B-17, despite the fact that a large-caliber bullet was stuck in the radiator of the cooling of his fighter, which created a danger of engine overheating. Through the damaged body of the bomber, Stiegler was able to see the crippled and incapable crew. To the surprise of the American pilot, Stiegler did not open fire on the damaged bomber. Stiegler recalled the words of one of his commander from Jagdgeschwader 27 , Gustav Rödel , during the North African campaign: “If I ever see or hear that you are shooting at a man with a parachute, I will shoot you myself.” Stiegler later commented: “For me it is tantamount to parachuting them. I saw them, and I could not shoot them. "

Twice, Stiegler tried to get Brown to land his plane at a German airfield and surrender or go to nearby neutral Sweden , where they would receive medical assistance. Brown and the B-17 crew did not understand that he shouted and gestured with Stiegler, so they continued to fly. Stiegler later told Brown that he was trying to get them to fly to Sweden. Then Stiegler flew near Brown's plane to the level of the left wing of the bomber, so the German anti-aircraft units did not aim at him; he eventually escorted a damaged B-17 over the coast until they reached the open sea. Brown, while unaware of Stiegler’s intentions, ordered his dorsal gunner to aim at Stiegler, but not to open fire, but only to warn him. Realizing this and making sure that the bomber left the airspace of Germany, Stiegler saluted and turned back ^[11] .

Landing

Brown managed to fly 400 km over the North Sea and land his plane at Seating, where the 448th group of bombers were located. During the debriefing, he informed his officers about how the German fighter pilot let him go. He was told not to talk about this to the rest of the unit so as not to create any positive feelings for enemy pilots. Brown commented: "Someone decided that you can't be human and fly in a German cockpit." Stiegler said nothing about the incident to his commanders, knowing that the German pilot, who had spared the enemy in battle, runs the risk of receiving a death sentence. Brown continued to fight ^[1] . Franz Stiegler later moved to Messerschmitt Me 262 and served in Jagdverband 44 until the end of the war.

After the war, Brown returned home to West Virginia and went to college, then served in the newly created U.S. Air Force from 1949 to 1965. Later, as a government official for foreign affairs, he made several trips to Laos and Vietnam . But in 1972 he left the civil service and moved to Miami , where he took up mechanics.

Stiegler moved to Canada in 1953 and became a successful businessman.

In 1986, retired Lt. Col. Brown was invited to speak at a reunion event for military pilots called Eagle Harvesting at the Maxwell, Alabama Aviation Command and Staff College. Someone asked him if he had any memorable missions during World War II ; Brown thought for a moment and remembered the Stiegler story. Subsequently, Brown decided that he should try to find an unknown German pilot.

After four years of searching the archives of the US Air Force and the Luftwaffe, Brown found nothing. He then wrote a letter to the newsletter of the association of military pilots. A few months later, Brown received a letter from Stiegler, who then lived in Canada, with the answer: "I was there." When they spoke on the phone, Stiegler described his plane, escort and military greeting. Thus, he confirmed that he was a pilot of a German fighter and participated in this incident.

In the 1990s, Charlie Brown and Franz Stiegler became close friends and remained so until his death with a difference of eight months in 2008 ^{[3] [15] [16]} .

Ad Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies , published on December 19, 2012, was dedicated to the incident by Adam Makos. The Highest Call: The Incredible True Story of Battle and Chivalry in the War-Torn Sky of World War II . of World War II ) ^[17] . In May 2013, Tom Stoppard and Solipsist Films decided to make a film from the book. Tom Stoppard and his son Will teamed up with Stephen L'Hereus to work together on a project that was supposed to have a budget of $ 85 million, but the film was never made. ^[18]

The incident was the theme of the song No Bullets Fly from the album Heroes of the metal band Sabaton .

One of the episodes of the series " Naval Police: Special Department ", "Best Angels", is based on this incident. In this episode, Leroy's father, Jethro Gibbs , Jackson, is trying to find a German pilot who saved his life during World War II.

• Makos Adam, Alexander Larry. A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II. - 1. - New York: Berkley Caliber, 2012 .-- ISBN 978-0-425-25286-4 .

• Franz Stiegler and Charlie Brown discuss the incident during their first meeting after the war on YouTube