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Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident (1943)
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.
Date20 December 1943 (1943-12-20)SummaryFighter pursuit of bomber; enemy fighter escorts bomber to safetySiteOver Germany and German-occupied Europe Type Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress Operator United States Army Air Forces(USAAF) Registration 42-3167Flight origin RAF Kimbolton Destination Bremen, Germany, then returnCrew10Fatalities1 (tail gunner)Survivors9Type Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Operator Luftwaffe Crew1Survivors1The 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. He then flew near Brown's plane in close formation on the bomber's port side wing, so that German anti-aircraft units would not target it, and escorted the damaged B-17 across the coast until they reached open water. Brown managed to fly the 250 mi (400 km) across the North Sea and land his plane at RAF Seething, home of the 448th Bomb Group and at the postflight debriefing informed his officers about how a German fighter pilot had let him go.
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