2nd Lt. Charlie Brown & his B-17F Flying Fortress named “Ye Olde Pub”
2ND Lt. Charlie Brown was a B-17F Flying Fortress pilot with the 379th
Bomber Group at Kimbolton, England. His B-17F was called “Ye Olde 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. Most of the tail & half of the stabilizer were gone.
After flying over an enemy airfield, a pilot named Franz Stigler
was ordered to take off and shoot down the B-17F. 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 2nd Lt. Charlie Brown, Lt. Brown was scared and
struggling to control his damaged and bloodstained 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 remainder 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 postwar
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
Research shows that 2nd Lt. Charlie Brown lived in Seattle and Franz
Stigler 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