posted 03-01- 02:52 PM
Taken from "Luftwaffe Fighter Aces" by Mike Spick. On December 20, 1943 a B-17 of the 379th Bombardment Group flown by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Brown was badly damaged by flak and fighters over Bremen. With the Plexiglas nose shattered, one engine out and two others damaged, Brown recovered control at low level and set course for England. He was intercepted by Bf 109 pilot Franz Stiegler of 6/JG 27 who recalled: "I came up behind him to see what kind of reaction I would get from the tail gunner. Nothing happened. I got closer; still nothing. By then I was flying in formation (with the B-17), on the right side. I looked across at the tail gunner and all I could see was blood running down his gun barrels. I could see into Brown's plane, see through the holes, see how they were all shot up. They were trying to help each other. To me, it was like they were in a parachute. I saw them and I couldn't shoot them down!"
Stiegler escorted the badly damaged B-17 out over the North Sea, saluted it and returned to his base. He had committed a court-martial offense, but, as he said later, "I saw the men; I just couldn't do it!" Stiegler who now lives in Canada, ended the war flying Me 262s with JV44.
Hey with a story like that I could use a cold one, please.
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7./JG3_Himdog out
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posted 03-01- 02:52 PM
