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#3477401 - 12/20/11 01:33 AM OT: This Date In History ... December 20th.1943  
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
This Date in History: December 20th.1943
The Story of "Ye Old Pub"




Encountering a mortally-wounded B-17 limping back to England,
Luftwaffe ace Franz Stigler anticipated an easy kill and another opportunity
to avenge his brother's death at the opening of WWII.
As he approached the virtually helpless American plane, however,
he saw the faces of the dead and wounded crewmen.
Then, Stigler's eyes met those of pilot Charles Brown.
Despite the potentially severe consequences of letting an enemy plane escape,
Stigler felt that he had to answer a higher call of honor . . . mercy.

Expecting the worst at any moment, Brown marveled as the enemy Bf-109
stuck with him to the North Sea. His adversary then saluted and veered away,
allowing the astonished Brown to journey safely home.
With this encounter engraved into the minds of both pilots
for decades after the war's end, the two men remarkably located one another in 1990.
In the years that followed, their friendship developed to the point
where Stigler considered Brown to be as precious as the brother he had lost.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Pilots



Franz Stigler started flying gliders at age 12 and soloed in a bi-plane in 1933.
He joined Lufthansa, becoming an Airline Captain, before joining the Luftwaffe in 1940.
There, he became an instructor pilot, with one of his students being
Gerhard Barkhorn, who would later become the second highest scoring Ace
in history with over 300 victories.

Franz transferred to Bf 109 fighter aircraft upon learning of the loss of his brother August,
who died piloting a bomber shot down over the English Channel.
Franz flew combat in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Western Europe.
He served as a Squadron Commander of three squadrons (Numbers 6, 8, and 12, of JG 27)
and twice a Wing Commander, all flying Bf 109 fighters.
Franz formed EJG-1, possibly the first ever pre-jet training squadron
before being hand picked as the Technical Officer of Gen. Adolph Galland’s
elite JV 44, “Squadron of Experts,” flying the Me-262 jet.

Franz was credited with 28 confirmed victories and over thirty probables.
He flew 487 combat missions, was wounded four times,
and was shot down seventeen times, four by enemy fighters,
four by ground fire, and nine times by gunners on American bombers.
He bailed out six times and rode his damaged aircraft down eleven times.

He emigrated to Canada in 1953 and became a successful businessman.
In addition to his many Luftwaffe decorations, Franz was presented
with the “Order of the Star of Peace” by the Federation of Combattant Allies En Europe
for his act of compassion on December 20, 1943.
He is believed to be the only Luftwaffe pilot to be so recognized.
Franz was also made an honorary member of the 379th Bomb Group Association.
Franz Stigler, died in 2008 at the age of 93.




Charlie Brown graduated as a US Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. in April 1943.
He arrived in England in early November 1943 as a B-17 pilot/aircraft commander
and was wounded twice in completing 29 bomber combat missions out of 31 attempts
(24 over Germany proper) with the famed 379th Bomb Group. He then delivered fighters and bombers,
and flew transports from North Ireland to the United Kingdom until becoming a B-17 instructor pilot stateside.
Itching to return to duty overseas, Charlie became a C-54/C-87 pilot
and flew in the CBI theatre until the end of the war.

After retiring from the Air Force as a Lt. Colonel, Charlie accepted an appointment
as a Senior Foreign Service Reserve Officer, serving for six years throughout
Laos and Vietnam during the Vietnam War. After thirty years of government service
he retired in 1972 and formed a combustion research company.
In 1992 he was recognized by the Governor of West Virginia (Charlie’s home state)
with the “Distinguished West Virginia Award,” both for his government service
and research career. He was awarded a symbolic “Governor’s Medal” by Governor Jeb Bush on October, 2001.

Charlie’s most prestigious honor was belatedly bestowed by the USAF in February 2008,
when he was awarded the Air Force Cross (second only to the Medal of Honor)
for bringing his badly damaged B-17 home to England during his December 20, 1943 mission.
Charlie Brown, died in November 2008 at the age of 86.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mission Anatomy "Ye Old Pub"



1. Franz approached The Pub from 500 feet above and behind the bomber.
He intended to attain the victory from the tail, the "classic way."
Dipping to the same altitude as The Pub, and closing to within 200 feet,
he noticed that the bomber's tail guns pointed downward and appeared inoperative.
Like a dueling lawman, with his finger against the trigger,
Franz waited for his opponent to reach for his gun.
With the lifeless body of tail gunner Eckenrode behind the tail guns,
their barrels hung earthward and still. Franz neared to within 20 feet of the tail, unnoticed.
There, he saw Eckenrode, "…slumped over his gun, his blood streaming down its barrel."

2. Franz remembered, “The B-17 was like a sieve. There was blood everywhere.
I could see the crew trying to help their wounded. Through the gaping hole in the fuselage,
I could see crewmen working frantically to save a comrade whose leg was blown off.

I thought to myself, ‘How can I shoot something like that?’[/b]
It would be like shooting a man in a parachute. When I was flying in North Africa,
my Commander (Gustav Roedel, who had 98 victories) said, [i]‘You are a fighter pilot.
If I ever hear of you shooting someone in a parachute, I’ll shoot you myself.’”

Franz concluded that the Pub was, “. . . the most badly damaged plane I ever saw, still flying.”

3. The navigator of “Ye Olde Pub,” Al Sadok, remembered,
“Finally, the enemy coast put itself behind us and the fighters quit coming in.
Probably all out of ammunition, one rather brazen pilot in an Me-109 flew up…
and nodded at our pilot.“
From vantage, pilot Charlie Brown remembered,
“There, flying very close formation with his wingtip only about three feet
from our wingtip was an Me-109! For a moment I thought that I had lost my mind
and if I briefly closed my eyes it would disappear. I tried-he was still there!
Upon his return to the cockpit, I pointed out our visitor to Pinky (co-pilot Pinky Luke).
The German pilot nodded, but Pinky and I were in a state of shock and did not return the greeting.”


4. Earlier, on the bomb run, four shells from a flak battery bracketed the Pub.
One shell blew off most of the Plexiglas nose dome, blasting the men with frigid,
-50 degrees Celsius air from the open sky. An 88mm shell punched through the Pub’s right wing without exploding.
Shrapnel from another shell hit the #2 engine, which lost oil pressure.
Charlie and his copilot immediately shut #2 down and increased power to the remaining three engines.
Then, engine #4 "ran away," as if the throttle controls had been severed.
Charlie began shut-down procedures on #4 to bring it back to a usable power range
and feathered the propellers of engine #2. Thus, The Pub became a straggler.

5. Franz motioned for Charlie to land in Germany, but Charlie did not react.
Franz pointed eastward, trying to encourage Charlie into a turn toward neutral Sweden.
However, Charlie's state of mind did not comprehend that Sweden was 30 minutes away,
whereas England was two hours distant, across the frigid North Sea.
Aware that the pilot was in shock and could not discern his motives,
Franz chose to remain in a close escort position.
Franz explained, "If I would have passed up the escort, then they would have to watch out.
But if you're hanging there with this plane, even if another fighter would have come along,
they wouldn't have shot; they wouldn't have interfered with you."


6. Franz recalled his exchange with Charlie across those cold,
open lengths of sky: “I know he (Charlie) closed his eyes, he opened them again,
and I was still there. They knew they were helpless.”
Franz saw fear in Charlie’s face.
Charlie explained, “Although the German pilot appeared relaxed,
I was most uncomfortable and felt that at any time he would unleash some type of new German weapon
to destroy us . . . I finally surmised that he was out of ammunition,
but I was amazed at his curiosity and daring in flying that close
to even a badly crippled enemy bomber.”

In reality, Franz’s fighter was freshly armed to the teeth.

7. After several minutes with Franz flying on his wing,
Charlie called his flight engineer, “Frenchy” Coulombe, into the cockpit to,
“ . . . join Pinky and me in observing the audacious German pilot.
Now, we had three wide-eyed American airmen in the cockpit . . . after a few more seconds,
my nerves could stand it no longer and I asked Frenchy to get back in his turret
and point his guns at the German pilot. When the fighter pilot saw the engineer’s head
appear in the top turret, he saluted, rolled over, and was gone.”

In realizing that his company was no longer welcome, Franz remembered thinking,
“Well, I hope you make it. So, I waved off, saluted him, and flew back to the airport.”

8. A week earlier, pilot Charlie Brown flew his first mission
with a veteran crew for indoctrination. The mission was his second, but his crew’s first.
Their aircraft, B-17F (42-3167), had been named “Ye Olde Pub” by her prior crew.
She had patches from past bullet holes and a rough-running #4 engine.
But, she knew the road to the Reich and back.
On this day, she would earn the title, “Flying Fortress.”

9. Identified by the markings of a triangle surrounding the letter K,
the 379th Bomb Group was one of the 12 heavy Bombardment Groups
in the First Division of the U.S. 8th Air Force. The 379th would fly more missions
than any other group, drop more bombs, bomb with the highest accuracy,
and suffer the fewest losses. For these accomplishments, by the war's end,
the 379th was known as the "Grand Slam Group" and arguably, the best in the business.

10. 'The Berlin Bear' painted onto the forward cowling of Franz’s plane
was the mascot of Franz’s squadron. To honor this, the Berlin Zoo gifted a bear cub
named “Bobby” to the unit. The bear lived with Franz and would swim in the pool
with the men of his squadron.
In late 1944, as Fighter Wing 27 retreated deeper into Germany,
Franz was ordered to “Get rid of the bear,” as there was no space to transport Bobby
or food to spare. Franz could not bring himself to shoot his bear nor could his squadron mates.
A neighboring unit had to do it for them.

11. Franz’s fighter carried his personal nose art that showed his wife’s name, Eva,
next to an apple with a snake weaving through it. Franz’s rudder bore 25 victories marks,
amassed prior to December 20, 1943. That day, in his encounter with “Ye Olde Pub,”
Franz saw his brother's pleading eyes in faces of the B-17 crew a
nd realized he had almost walked the same path as his brother's killer.
During the next year and four months of fighting, Franz flew in the desperate defense of Germany.
While he would shoot down further opposing aircraft,
after December 20, he stopped adding victory marks to his rudder.
Although bound by blood to defend his country, he never again celebrated
his aerial triumphs. Franz had chosen to answer a higher call.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Return of the Pub

Pilot Charles Brown wrestles his B-17 "Ye Olde Pub" back to England
after the extremely harrowing mission. Following a bombing run over Bremen, Germany,
Brown's plane was attacked, sustaining extensive damage and casualties.
As Brown fought to keep his plane in the air, P-47s who had also participated
in the raid over Bremen, encountered "The Pub," marveled at the damaged bomber,
and helped escort her to a safe landing at Seething Air Base, England.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are a few links;

http://www.valorstudios.com/Franz-Stigler-Charlie-Brown.htm

http://www.snopes.com/military/charliebrown.asp


Cheers mates pilot
David


"The further backwards you look, the further forwards you can see"
Winston Churchill

http://www.sandbagger.uk.com/skylark.html
Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#3477593 - 12/20/11 02:19 PM Re: OT: This Date In History ... December 20th.1943 [Re: Skylark]  
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Col.J.D.Landers Offline
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Posts: 795
London, England.
Superb David....thank you!!


“The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession.” - Sherlock Holmes
#3478210 - 12/21/11 06:37 AM Re: OT: This Date In History ... December 20th.1943 [Re: Skylark]  
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wheelsup_cavu Offline
Lifer
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Joined: Dec 2008
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Amazing story. thumbsup


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Wheelsup_cavu

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#3478918 - 12/22/11 03:56 AM Re: OT: This Date In History ... December 20th.1943 [Re: Skylark]  
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Ajay Offline
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Brisbane OZ
Thanks Dave, never read that one before thumbsup brilliant.


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