Thread by @disappoptimism

Today I learned about the Brown-Stigler incident. 20th December 1943 these two pilots would be the centre of an episode that would last decades.

Brown was the pilot of a B17 bomber called “Ye Olde Pub” on a mission to bomb the Focke Wulf fighter factory in Bremen.

The mission was in daylight, going up against 250 anti aircraft guns as well as a high number of enemy aircraft.

Mechanical failures and damage to other bombers in formation meant “Ye Olde Pub” moved forward in formation & quickly became a target.

In no time at all it was hit by German cannon fire with damage to its nose cone and engines. It fell out of formation and then the German fighters fell upon them.

Damage to the bomber was extensive as enemy fighters attacked for about 20 minutes, damaging a further engine, the internal heating, electrics and killing the tail gunner. The rudder and part of the tail had been shot away and the guns were jamming so it was largely defenceless

The crew knew they were doomed. Out of the defensive cover of other bombers, smoking and unable to shoot back the crew considered bailing out but one crewman was badly injured & wouldn’t have made the drop so they decided to try for home despite the odds against them

Whilst this dark moment was going on in “Ye Old Pub” Franz Stigler, an ace German pilot with 27 confirmed kills, was catching up to the bomber. The damaged and slow moving defenceless bomber was an easy target.

Through holes blown into the plane Stigler could see the dead crewman and injured crew. And in that moment Stigler was reminded of the words of an old commanding officer:
“If I ever see you shoot a man in a parachute; I will shoot you myself.”

To Stigler, this defenceless plane was a parachute.
So instead he tried to convince the plane to land at a German airfield. But the crew couldn’t understand his gestures and their radio had been shot to pieces. With that unsuccessful Stigler took formation close to the bomber

By doing so, Stigler stopped the anti aircraft guns from targeting the bomber. With that he escorted the bomber to the channel. Brown, still unsure what was happening got the gunners to train their unworking guns on the fighter.

With nothing more than a salute, Stigler left them to their flight across the channel. Amazingly all but the one gunner survived their injuries.

After the war Brown stayed in the airforce and at a conference in 1986 was asked about memorable moments, he recalled the Bremen mission & decided to track down the German pilot.

After posting a letter to the pilots association- Stigler saw and wrote back to Brown. Stigler had in fact moved to Canada after the war.

The two became firm friends and worked on telling their story. In 2008 both of them died, with months between them. The last crewman of “Ye Olde Pub” was Lloyd Jennings, a waist gunner, who died in 2016.