Why did a German ace fighter in 1943 spare and rescue 9 American pilots

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

An amazing incident took place in the skies over Germany in 1943. The American bomber suffered so much damage that it was almost 100% likely to fall. All surviving crew members were seriously injured. The German ace pilot, who flew from the airfield specially for the downed American, had won 29 air victories by that time. Before the cherished Iron Cross, he lacked literally one shot, since the unfinished American plane was probably the easiest prey in history. However, the B-17F, nicknamed "The Old Pub", safely returned to the base in Great Britain that day, having overcome not only 400 kilometers of the way, but also a barrier from German anti-aircraft guns.

On December 20, 1943, a bomber group of the 8th Air Force US Air Force flew from the British airfield to Bremen. The target was a military aircraft factory. The mission was considered extremely dangerous, since in addition to powerful resistance in the air, problems from the ground were also expected: the Bremen air defense artillery consisted of 250 anti-aircraft guns. For the crew of the B-17, which the pilots themselves called affectionately "The Old Pub", this flight was special - the airship had just been assigned a new commander, Charlie Brown.

The B-17 was unlucky on this sortie. The bomber managed to drop bombs on the target, but immediately came under anti-aircraft fire and received a lot of damage. Having strayed from the main formation, the plane became easy prey for a dozen enemy fighters. Very soon it turned out that two engines were out of order, the tail unit was badly damaged, the stern gunner was killed, and the remaining nine crew members were wounded. The situation was complicated by the fact that the plane continued to be at a great height, and from the received damage, the outboard temperature of -60 degrees turned into a real problem: one of the pilots had frostbite legs, and when the pilots tried to inject the wounded with morphine, they found that the drug froze in syringe tubes.

The only luck was that the main squadron of German fighters for some reason did not pursue the bomber. Maybe they thought that he would not make it to the border anyway. However, the Americans stubbornly continued to pull the crippled car "on parole and on one wing" and moved towards the English Channel.

The American plane was spotted at one of the military field airfields in the vicinity of Bremen. German ace pilot Franz Stiegler specially climbed from the ground on Messerschmitt Bf-109 and chased after the enemy. The hunt, which would have brought him the highest order of the Third Reich, was expected to be fast, the B-17 was already in the air by some miracle.

Stiegler approached the American plane, expecting resistance, but he did not follow - there was simply no one to shoot back. The bomber's oxygen and hydraulic systems were damaged, as well as the radio station, the entire fuselage was a sieve. The German pilot later recalled that he was unspeakably surprised that the car in this state was still in the air. Through the holes in the corps, the Luftwaffe ace saw a dead gunner, a pilot without a leg, and a wounded crew that was trying to help him.

Stiegler flew so close that he saw the captain of the ship and for the first time in his life looked his enemy in the eye. He recalled the words of his teacher and former commander Gustav Roedel: As Stiegler later explained, This is how the phrase said by the pilot, on whose account there were almost a thousand sorties and almost a hundred downed aircraft, a few years later saved the lives of nine Americans. Franz Stiegler did not attack the faulty aircraft, but, approaching, began to show the commander of the B-17 with signs to sit at the German airfield and surrender. The wounded crew, which every second was expecting a single fatal shot, at first did not understand the German ace, because his behavior did not fit into any of the possible schemes.

Then Stiegler tried to force the plane to head for neutral Sweden, but the Old Pub continued to stubbornly pull towards its base. Ahead of the crazy Americans were not only hundreds of kilometers above the water, but also the Atlantic Wall - the most powerful coastal system of German fortifications. The German ace, having decided to help the enemy, did not stop halfway in this matter. He not only spared the half-wrecked plane, but also began to escort it - he took up a position near the left wing of the bomber, thus protecting it from German anti-aircraft units. He accompanied the damaged B-17 over the coast until they reached the open sea. When the danger zone was overcome, the German saluted the courage of the opponents, swinging his wings and flew back.

The Old Pub managed to cover 400 kilometers and land at Seating Base in the UK. This incident is one of the most amazing examples in history of the "survivability" of a damaged aircraft. After a detailed report to the authorities, a strict order came from above: not to report the incident to anyone, so as not to arouse positive feelings in relation to the Nazis. Franz Stiegler, of course, did not report to his superiors about the chivalrous behavior in the sky, knowing full well what it was fraught with. In May 1945, Stiegler flew over to the Americans in his fighter plane and surrendered.

However, this story also had a sequel. Many decades after the great victory, when the American Charlie Brown had already completed a successful career as a foreign affairs official, and the former German ace who emigrated to Canada became a major businessman, the former enemies found each other. Brown was the initiator of the meeting. Talking at one of the events about old military exploits, he recalled the incident of his amazing rescue and set out to find the pilot who had spared him once. After four years of searching, he was lucky, Stiegler wrote from Canada: "I was the one."

The men met in the early 1990s and then became friends for another twenty years, until their death. Both passed away in 2008, a few months apart. A few years later, this amazing story was published in the form of the book "A High Call: The Incredible True Story of Battle and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II."

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