Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident

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Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident

Charlie Brown (left) and Franz Stigler (right)
Air combat
Date	20 December 1943 (1943-12-20)
Summary	Fighter pursuit of bomber; enemy fighter escorts bomber to safety
Site	Over Germany and German-occupied Europe
First aircraft
Type	Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress
Operator	United States Army Air Forces (USAAF)
Registration	42-3167
Flight origin	RAF Kimbolton
Destination	Bremen, Germany, then return
Crew	10
Fatalities	1 (tail gunner)
Survivors	9
Second aircraft
Type	Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6
Operator	Luftwaffe
Crew	1
Survivors	1

The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident occurred on 20 December 1943, when, after a successful bomb run on Bremen, 2nd Lt. Charles "Charlie" Brown's B-17F Flying Fortress Ye Olde Pub of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was severely damaged by German fighters. Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler had the opportunity to shoot down the crippled bomber but did not do so, and instead escorted it over and past German-occupied territory so as to protect it. After an extensive search by Brown, the two pilots met each other 50 years later and developed a friendship that lasted until Stigler's death in March 2008. Brown died only a few months later, in November of the same year.^[1][2]