A B-17 War Story

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 German 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.

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.

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!