A German Fighter Pilot Risked His Life to Save an American Bomber Pilot He Never Met

Franz Stigler, like many pilots in the German Luftwaffe who lived long enough, racked up an impressive number of air-to-air kills during World War II. But unlike most German fighter pilots, Stigler is most famous for the kill he didn't make. Although an incredible act of bravery, the cold winter day in 1943, when he decided not to shoot down an Allied bomber, put his life in danger – but it would later earn him a lifelong friend. 

U.S. Army Air Force Lt. Charlie Brown was 21 years old when boarded the B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber "Ye Olde Pub" on Dec. 20, 1943. It was his first combat mission ever, and the United States was making daring daytime raids over Nazi Germany. It served to give Germany a round-the-clock pummeling (as British bombers conducted night raids) but also meant an incredibly high casualty count for bomber crews. 

If that wasn't enough, "Ye Olde Pub" was moved to the front of the formation (a position called "Purple Heart Corner") after other planes dropped out with mechanical issues, making it a prime target for the inevitable flak and enemy fighters it was certain to meet. Bomber crews were expected to fly 25 missions before being rotated out, but only 25% of them ever made it to 25 missions. The rest were killed, wounded, or missing in action.

That day's target was a munitions factory in Bremen, an industrial city well-defended and deep inside Nazi Germany. Defending the industrial zone were an estimated 250 flak guns and potentially hundreds of enemy fighters from airfields in the area. At the time, fighter escorts were a new concept, so the bombers didn't enjoy that protection – they were on their own. 

As the formation began to make its bombing run over the factory, an accurate flak round shot through the glass of Ye Olde Pub's nose cone, taking out one engine and damaging another. The B-17 had to drop out of formation and fall back before it could drop its payload. It was now even more of a target than before. 

The enemy fighters came suddenly, pounding the American bomber for more than ten minutes, taking down another engine, damaging its internal oxygen, hydraulic and electrical systems, shooting away half of its rudder and port elevator, wounding most of the ten-man crew, decapitating the tail gunner and worst of all, exposing the plane, its weapons, and men to the freezing air, which was −76° Fahrenheit. Onboard systems, guns, and first aid gear froze.

Brown, still at the controls, had passed out from oxygen deprivation, waking up just in time to save his crippled airplane from a death spiral. It appeared to the German fighters that it was just another aerial victory, and they moved on. Ye Olde Pub managed to escape the area, but it was 300 miles from the safety of the British Isles, and they were barely faster than their stalling speed. 

German aircraft spotters called in Brown's plane. Back at a nearby airfield, Franz Stigler was refueling and rearming, getting ready to fly back into the fight. He took off to intercept the B-17, and by the time Charlie Brown noticed Stigler in his Messerschmitt Bf 109, the German was just three feet away from his wingtip. The German pilot was just one aerial kill away from being awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the highest award a German military member could receive. 

But Stigler didn't see his Iron Cross. He saw the headless, frozen corpse of the tail gunner, clinging to a plane riddled with holes large and small, limping along in a desperate attempt to get back home. It was the most damaged aircraft he'd ever seen still flying. He recalled an officer telling him about that honor is everything in the air, and the phrase he never forgot:

"If I ever see or hear of you shooting at a man in a parachute. I will shoot you down myself. You follow the rules of war for you – not for your enemy. You fight by rules to keep your humanity."

In that moment, Stigler saw a man in a parachute. He tried to get them to land at a German airfield. He then tried to get them to land in neutral Sweden. The Americans, their radio shot out, didn't respond to any of it. Instead, he flew into an escort formation and flew them back to the English Channel, preventing German anti-aircraft guns from targeting the plane. It was not without risk; if a ground spotter saw his tail number helping an Allied aircraft, he could be executed as a traitor. He saluted the Americans as he broke away and headed home.

Brown successfully landed the aircraft in England but never told anyone except his commanding officer about the incident. Stigler, of course, told no one either. He completed his service, flying some 500 combat missions, but was never again interested in his Iron Cross. He emigrated to Canada after the war. 

Brown didn't tell the story until 1986 when he spoke at an Air Force event and was asked about his memorable missions. Then a retired Lt. Col, he decided to look for the mysterious German. He wrote letters to publications and perused West German archives until one day in 1990, Stigler finally called him and said, "I was the one." The two became close friends until they both died within a few months of each other in 2008.