He nodded to the American pilot and began flying in formation to avoid being shot down by German anti-aircraft gunners on the ground. Stigler changed his mission while alone with the crippled bomber. To maintain your humanity, you fight by the rules.” Stigler, on the other hand, could hear the voice of his commanding officer, who once told him: “You follow the rules of war for your own benefit, not the benefit of your adversary. He would be executed if someone reported him. A German pilot who saved the enemy, on the other hand, faced death in Nazi Germany. He had once considered becoming a priest. His ancestors could be traced back to knights in 16th-century Europe. That day, Stigler was motivated by more than just vengeance. He let go of the trigger with his index finger. Stigler pressed his hand against the rosary tucked inside his flight jacket. Then he pushed his plane up alongside the bomber’s wings and locked gazes with the pilot, whose eyes were wide with shock and horror. He could see men huddled inside the shattered plane, tending to the injuries of other crew members. Another engine’s smoke trailed behind it. Shells had peeled away its skin and knocked out its guns. Stigler craned his neck to inspect the remainder of the bomber. He was motionless, his white fleece collar drenched in blood. He focused his attention on the tail gunner.

Nobody in the bomber fired a shot at him. He crept behind the sputtering bomber, squinted into his gun sight, and pressed the trigger. Stigler’s fighter decided to attack the bomber from behind as it rose to meet it. Stigler tossed his cigarette aside, saluted a ground crewman, and took off in pursuit as the bomber vanished behind some trees. Looking up, he noticed a B-17 flying so low that it appeared to be about to land. When Stigler heard the engine of a bomber, he was standing near his fighter on a German airbase. American pilots had killed Stigler’s comrades and were bombing the cities of his country. August, his older brother, was a fellow Luftwaffe pilot who was killed earlier in the war. With one more kill, he’d be awarded the Knight’s Cross, Germany’s highest honor for bravery.īut Stigler was motivated by something more than a desire for fame. Franz Stigler was motivated by vengeance rather than honor when he jumped into his fighter on that chilly December day in 1943. What followed was one of the most extraordinary acts of chivalry recorded during World War II.ĭuring World War II, Charles Brown was on his first combat mission when he actually met an enemy unlike any other.Ģnd Lt. Instead of pressing the attack, he nodded and saluted Brown. In awe and respect, he returned the bomber’s stare. Half of his crew had been injured, and the tail gunner had died, his blood frozen in icicles over the machine guns.īut when Brown and his co-pilot, Spencer “Pinky” Luke, returned their gaze to the fighter pilot, something strange happened. His bomber had been destroyed by swarming fighters, and his plane was now flying alone in the skies above Germany. A B-17 Flying Fortress, the same type of bomber image by Josh BeasleyĬharles Brown, the B-17 pilot, was a 21-year-old West Virginia farm boy on his first combat mission.

Franz stigler plane