of New York City, commander of the fighter squadron that escorted Strapko's formation of B-17's during a bombing mission to Berlin in March 1945. The action resulted in claims of 11 of the transports and four other German aircraft shot down for a loss of two P-38s. One of Anderson’s comrades quickly closed on the first 109 and opened fire, blowing it to. This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that day—the American—2nd Lieutenant Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a B-17—and the German—2nd Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II. The best German fighter, the FW-190, carried only 500 rounds, so the pilot would probably only obtain 10 hits—not enough to shoot down his target unless he was extremely lucky. Charlie aimed for his hometown of Weston, West Virginia. Oct. bomber crew. Stout's latest book is a work of narrative journalism that reveals not only the glamorous aspects of life lived by American USAAF fighter pilots tasked with escorting B-17 and B-24 bombers, but also the mundane, awkward, hilarious, tragic and even despicable aspects as well. Eighth Air Force and its members were known unofficially as the Yoxford Boys after the village of Yoxford near their base in the UK. Stigler came from a family of pilots; his father flew in WWI and. S. CTV. /LG 1 also contributed. B-17 takes off. The date, April 24, 1944, jumped out at me. ‘A German pilot did once say that attacking a B-17 formation from behind was like trying to make love to a porcupine that is on fire,’ Walt Miller , Former 0311/0302 at United States Marine. . It was powered by four 750 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornets. However, instead of escorting B-17s over enemy territory and dicing it up in aerial combat, the aircraft will be giving fans the opportunity to fly in a real WWII hero. The Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission was a strategic bombing mission during World War II carried out by Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers of the U. 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. One of 36 pilots practicing. The last one was completed 28 May 1942. Zeppeilin, Bismarck, Tirpitz] This thread is archived. 1 aircraft Failed to Return (FTR) 1EVD but none were as the direct result of fighter or anti. Defended by only four machine guns, the nose of the B-17—and more importantly the cockpit—was vulnerable to a head-on attack. In 1941, Cadet Safonov gained experience flying on the aircraft Ut-2, Uti-4 and I-16, having completed 276 flights with a total flight time of 38 hours 44 minutes. Suddenly, the pilot froze – one of the American gunners had found their mark. American pilot Charlie Brown finds himself brutally damaged deep inside Nazi-occupied Germany. Suddenly three German Messerschmitt 109s dove on a straggling B 17. After a successful bombing run in spite of enemy flak, they proceeded to return to base when they were attacked by German. He and his crew of Ye Olde Pub were to become. 20th Fighter Group P-38 pilot Lt Arthur Heiden with his ground crew. It is the peak of World War II. flying his first mission as an aircraft commander flying a B-17, “Ye Olde Pub” on a bombing run over Bremen. When he was almost out of fuel, he force-landed on the outskirts of the Sahara. Despite bristling with up to ten machine guns, the US B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers were constantly harassed by German defenses with American losses beginning to mount. 17. They headed out looking for a large number of. The second Schweinfurt mission. Instead of shooting the plane down, however, the German pilot, Franz Stigler, escorted the. Pilot/escort vehicle and operator requirements. Ludwig Franz Stigler was born in Regensburg on August 21st 1915, the younger of two. The P-43 was the end of de Seversky’s contributions to development of the P-47. A Luftwaffe Test Pilot's Account of a Captured B-17 Luftwaffe Test Pilot by Hans Werner Lerche Perhaps there were other aircraft that were even more pleasant to fly than the B-17, because it did have its drawbacks: for example, the forces acting on the ailerons were relatively high, and the rudder felt as if it were set in concrete. Charlie Brown of the USAAF was a Lt. An escort fighter needed range long enough to reach the target, loiter over it for the duration of the raid to defend the bombers, and return. Rudolf von Eschwege was the only German fighter pilot on World War I's Macedonian Front, but in a little more than a year the intrepid and resourceful flier achieved 20 victories. Nothing happened. His actions got nine men home for Christmas. B-24 Liberator bomber takes off. It involved a German pilot, Franz Stigler,. Interview with World War II veteran and P-51 pilot, Edward McNeff. He and his two wingmen fired their R4M rockets into one tight formation of some 60 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from a distance of 3,000 feet. If the story was about an English pilot escorting a German bomber back to Axis airspace after a sortie just got done blowing London half to hell would we still be circle jerking eachother over the story?. set out on the longest escort mission their crews would fly during World War II. ★ North American P-51 Mustang ★ Most people who know warbirds consider the P-51 (foreground, flying with a B-17 during a 2009. The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident. Army Air Forces (USAAF). Col Anderson is a WWII Triple Ace fighter pilot and a veteran military experimental test pilot. Robert Samuel Johnson (February 21, 1920 – December 27, 1998) was a fighter pilot with the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. Share Article. ) Stigler escorted the bomber over the North Sea and took one last look at the American. 172K views, 4. During the five grim years of World War 2, all of the countries involved created an effective propaganda system that portrayed enemy soldiers as monsters who. CryptoFour 1200 hp Wright Cyclone GR-1820-65 radial engines. LtCol (Ret) Jay A. S. When a Bf-109 spared a stricken B-17 - YouTube Christmas 1943, a badly shot up B-17 struggled to stay in the air, it was the first mission for the 21-year-old pilot, half his crew. At that altitude, the air is thin and cold — 60 degrees below zero. On 12 May, the Eighth Air Force sent an attack force of 886 heavy bombers, protected by 980 escort fighters, against the German refineries in central Germany at Leuna, Merseburg, Böhlen and Zeitz. Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was made the commanding officer of the 9th Squadron in the German Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 wing. Finding a large force of these bombers near Liege, Galland - now a Major - led his fighters in to the' attack but they were bounced by P-47s which, in their first pass, shot down Galland's Fw 190A-5 plus two others. The incident would later be called "the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic – Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). A fast and high-flying bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II. B-17 bomber pilot Capt. During WW2, Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler refused to destroy a damaged B-17. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s, in the Land Bomber design category. The B-17 gunners held their fire as the Mustangs drove through the 109s. Service in the ranks of the Red Army Air Force began for cadet Safonov on the 17 January 1941 in the Krasnodar Military Pilot School. Hans Guido Mutke's Me 262A-1a 500 071 on display at the Deutsches Museum. The arrival of improved versions of the P-51 Mustang, equipped with drop tanks that gave them the range to escort bombers virtually anywhere in Europe,. The All American, high over the skies of Tunisia was practically split in two by a BF-109. When Luftwaffe ace Franz Stigler spotted a damaged and defenseless American B-17 bomber in 1943, rather than shoot it down, he helped it get back to Britain. Formed in May 1939, JG 26 spent. " B-17 Flying Fortress An example of such a rare act happened during a battle over Bremen, Northern Germany, during World War II. Two escorting P-47s race to intercept. ”There’s another story of a German pilot escorting a badly damaged American bomber over German occupied territory so that it wouldn’t be shot down because he felt that it would be dishonourable to shoot down a crippled plane. The plane was See more classic airplane pictures. A limping plane with no escort fighters is a sitting duck for Luftwaffe. flying his first mission as an aircraft commander flying a B-17, “Ye Olde Pub” on a. Even the strongest pilots tired rapidly during serious maneuvering. Big Week or Operation Argument was a sequence of raids by the United States Army Air Forces and RAF Bomber Command from 20 to 25 February 1944, as part of the European strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany. George Chadwick Jr. Our pilot, First Lieutenant Bill Pozolo, came over the intercom and made a roll call; he wanted to know if everyone on his crew was OK. Hartley) 17. Posted by u/M_Malandrinho - 2,374 votes and 104 commentsDuring an aerial parade of bombers and escorting fighters, the pilot of a single-engine P-63 Kingcobra fighter misjudged a turn and slammed into the fuselage of the four-engine B-17G Flying. Late war Eighth Air Force B-17 crew. A coordination and planning meeting must be held before load movement. George Hoyt bombed Nazi Germany from his B-17, but it’s the humanitarian relief of Operation Vittles that he cherishes most. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). flying his first mission as an aircraft commander flying a B-17, “Ye Olde Pub” on a. It marked a busy start of the first UK-German combined NATO Air Policing effort. The majority of his victories were claimed over the Eastern Front, with nine claims over the Western Front which included. There were 10 losses, nine caused by flak. B-17 mission in Europe was flown on August 17, 1942, by a dozen 97th Bombardment Group B-17s against the railroad marshalling yards in the French city of Rouen. On 5 September 1944, American P-51 Mustangs escorting a damaged B-17 bomber crossed into Swiss airspace and were confronted by Swiss Messerschmitt Bf 109s. Regensburg, the more distant target, was 430 miles inside. 26 th Mission: War Bond TourRobert Johnson saw action in flight for the first time while escorting B-17 bombers over Belgium, damaging two German Fw 190 aircraft. 14,949. A two-ton Me-109 ramming a fully loaded thirty-three-ton B-17 at four hundred miles per hour was dangerous enough, but especially so when the German pilots were so poorly trained and inexperienced. The Germans were known to fly into American formations with captured B-17s and shoot down or ram Allied planes. Johnson caught one of the Japanese fighters as it was coming off a firing pass at the B-17's. This was also known as the “flying porcupine” of which the Germans did a training diagram of below. Charlie Brown of the USAAF was a Lt. Brown’s B-17 was even more damaged than this one; the B-17 pictured was able to land with all their crew alive. During the war, thousands of men would fly thousands of missions in the B-17s all around the world. The bomber’s nose gun flashed in reply. Mel Blossom. Not only did it have the necessary range but also outclassed the German interceptors of the period. On Jan. 17. P-47 pilot, 50th Fighter Group Finnegan describes shooting down Adolf Galland's Me 262 in April 1945 I was leading the top flight cover of P-47s that was escorting B-26s to their target. Brown’s B-17F lined up for takeoff. A two-ton Me-109 ramming a fully loaded thirty-three-ton B-17 at four hundred miles per hour was dangerous enough, but especially so when the German pilots were so poorly trained and inexperienced. Distribution Statement No restrictions. Suddenly three German Messerschmitt 109s dove on a straggling B 17. Eventually the FW190. Bremen was defended by a large contingent of fighters and well-manned flak guns. Charlie Brown of the USAAF was a Lt. Pflug, flew as a B-17 co-pilot with the 369th Squadron, 390th Bomb Group, from Framlingham, England. The Tuskegee Airmen once shot down three German jets in a single day. His actions got nine men home for Christmas. airfield at Aalborg ( here) in Denmark. Bragg and his crew from the 414th Bomb Squadron, 97th Bomb Group received orders to attack German-controlled seaports at Bizerte and Tunis, Tunisia from Biskra, Algeria. S. He left one key detail on the ad: where the German pilot had abandoned his bomber plane. There were about 30 B-17 airplanes in our formation. He realized to his astonishment that the German fighter was flying escort on the B-17. A B-17 bomber is flying over German territory, Alone. The enemy fighters approached from different directions and altitudes in groups of two and five. E. Map used by Col Don Blakeslee, commander of the famous 4th Fighter Group, on an escort mission to Berlin. The incident would later be called "the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II. Kendrick R. A pair of B-25 Mitchells fly escort for a KLM Lockheed Super Electra carrying Princess. “It was inconceivable to me how such an escort fighter could ever have gone into production. . Description of the B-17 Flying Fortress, a U. The P-51 was therefore able to ‘break the back’ of the Luftwaffe and gain air supremacy over europe. Photo: Imperial War. 1, 1943, Lt. 4. The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). By the end of the war, the B-17 was an obsolete aircraft which had been surpassed by another Boeing bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. President Roosevelt was looking for ways to expand pilot training in the United States, should the country be pulled into the war. With the coming of May, escort operations begin. Ten minutes from the target, Circus lost an engine and began to fall behind when the bombs could not be jettisoned. Further the luftwaffe learned B 17s could take a great deal of punishment and still keep flying. Adolph Galland. Hans Guido Mutke (25 March 1921 – 8 April 2004) was a fighter pilot for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. After flying the B-17. North American P-51 Mustang. Airborne-Unlimited-10. Its mission was to escort B-17 Flying Fortress bombing runs into Germany. As they close in on the formation, they were going about 800km/h or 500 mph. As. ( (Courtesy of the Gray Family)) By January 14, 1945, I had been in England with the U. $14. The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. Support this channel by using the SUPER THANKS (heart icon above) or by becoming a Patron at one or all three of the b. As the bombers formed up over the Channel, short-range British Supermarine Spitfire fighters climbed to escort the heavies to the Continent. ”3I was reading some information about the Soviet Yak-9 fighter of World War Two. Based in Algeria and Tunisia, 1943. TIL a German fighter pilot ended up escorting a heavily-damaged American bomber out of German airspace in 1943 after he saw the bomber pilot struggling with the plane and his shattered crew. The German pilot only had seconds to aim, fire, and peel away before careening into the heavy bombers. This was considerably more than a moment of fighter pilot bravado. While the Consolidated B-24 Liberator four-engined heavy bomber dropped more war tonnage and was built in greater numbers, the Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" four-engined "heavy" left a longer lasting memory on American military aviation history for its part in World War 2 (1939-1945). DESCRIPTION; EDITIONS; SIGNERS; December 20, 1943: The German fighter pilot was taking a great risk. It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. Stigler recalled both of his parents with great affectation; his mother was the disciplinarian and raised him with the same. i5 Intel processor, 4 Go of Ram, Nvidia GeForce 920MX, DirectX 12. A German Messerschmidt ME109 gunned down a bomber in one such mission.