Charlie brown pilgrims3/14/2023 … When Franz landed he told the c/o that the plane had been shot down over the sea. Nearly fifty years later, Brown located and met up with that German pilot.Īside from pointing interested readers to a more comprehensive article covering these events (such as the one here), we don’t have much to add other than noting that the shortened version of this tale which has circulated widely on the Internet (as reproduced in the “Example” block above) may include some fanciful embellishments intended to heighten the drama of the story:Īfter flying over an enemy airfield, a pilot named Franz Stigler was ordered to take off and shoot down the B-17. Brown encountered a German who, rather than shooting down the B-17, instead saluted its crew and disappeared. While attempting to head back to England with a crippled plane and an injured crew, Lt. “Charlie” Brown - took heavy damage while on a mission to bomb a factory in Bremen, Germany. Origins: The basic framework of this tale about a memorable act of gallantry in wartime is true: In December 1943, the Ye Olde Pub - a B-17 commanded by 21-year-old Lt. When they finally met, they discovered they had lived less than 200 miles apart for the past 50 years!! Research shows that Charlie Brown lived in Seattle and Franz Stigler had moved to Vancouver, BC after the war. They met in the USA at a 379th Bomber Group reunion, together with 5 people who are alive now - all because Franz never fired his guns that day. He had never talked about the incident, not even at post-war reunions. After years of research, Franz was found. More than 40 years later, Charlie Brown wanted to find the Luftwaffe pilot who saved the crew. Charlie Brown and the remains of his crew told all at their briefing, but were ordered never to talk about it. 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. He then saluted Charlie Brown and turned away, back to Europe. Franz escorted and guided the stricken plane to and slightly over the North Sea towards England. Brown was scared and struggling to control his damaged and blood-stained plane.Īware that they had no idea where they were going, Franz waved at Charlie to turn 180 degrees. The nose was smashed and there were holes everywhere.ĭespite having ammunition, Franz flew to the side of the B-17 and looked at Charlie Brown, the pilot. The top gunner was all over the top of the fuselage. The tail and rear section was severely damaged, and the tail gunner wounded. In his words, he ‘had never seen a plane in such a bad state’. When he got near theī-17, he could not believe his eyes. The compass was damaged and they were flying deeper over enemy territory instead of heading home to Kimbolton.Īfter flying over an enemy airfield, a pilot named Franz Stigler was ordered to take off and shoot down the B-17. His B-17 was called ‘Ye Old Pub’ and was in a terrible state, having been hit by flak and fighters. Charlie Brown was a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 379th Bomber Group at Kimbolton, England.
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