Charlie Brown (pilot)

Born on October 24, 1922, in Weston, West Virginia to a family of farmers, Charlie was interested in flying planes from an early age. In 1939, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he would join the United States Army Air Forces in 1942.

After training, he became a pilot in the 527th Bomb Squadron which is part of the 379th Bomb Group.[1] On 20 December 1943, at the age of 21, he was sent on his first mission when he flew the Ye Olde Pub over Bremen, Germany. The bombing mission of a Fw 190 Factory was considered successful, however, the Ye Olde Pub sustained damage to engines #2 and #4, which made it unable to keep up with the bomber formation. After various attacks from Bf 109s and Fw 190s, the Ye Olde Pub was left without oxygen, hydraulic, electrical systems, engine #3 failed, and the tail gunner was killed. Brown lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen, and when he regained consciousness, the bomber was at an extremely low attitude of 1,000 meters. Brown rejected idea to bail out due to some of the crew members being unable to bail out, and they continued to fly back to RAF Kimbolton, where they came from.[2]

After a few minutes, Brown noticed a Bf 109 to his right, piloted by Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler.[3] Stigler had originally planned to shoot the B-17 down but decided not to due to the state of the plane, which he compared to shooting people bailing out with parachutes. He tried to motion to them to land in Germany, which Brown refused. Franz then flew escort with the bomber, which kept it from being fired on by flak stations. Once over the North Sea, Stigler then motioned to them to land in neutral Sweden which was closer than the 2-hour flight to England. Again, Brown refused, and after this, Stigler saluted and flew off, leaving them to crash in the North Sea. However, they made it to England, wondering about the unknown pilot who decided to spare them. After this, the story was kept secret and Brown was quiet about the event until 1986.[4]

After the German pilot spared his life, he made it his mission to find out who it was, and he would eventually meet Franz Stigler in the 1990s and they would remain close friends until Stigler's death in March 2008. He was a scientist and inventor in his later life and received the Air Force Cross and Purple Heart.[2] He lived in Miami from 1972 until his death on November 24, 2008, at the age of 86.[5]

• Franz Stigler
• Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident