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Franz stigler plane10/31/2023 ![]() His family and friends remember him as outgoing, gregarious, a man who invented a car part that allowed for greatly enhanced mileage, a loving father, a great friend. Born into poverty in West Virginia and a Miamian since the early 1970s, Brown will be buried Saturday at Woodlawn Park Cemetery South. It's a tale of two pilots - one American, the other German - and of a bloody, deadly battle in the sky that led to an extraordinary friendship.īrown, a fighter pilot, scientist, engineer and happy-hour connoisseur, died last month of heart complications. When World War II bomber pilot Charlie Brown is laid to rest Saturday, his burial will close a chapter on one of the most remarkable war stories in modern history. Brown died last month, but he lived to finally see his heroism recognized. Hopefully the chivalry of Franz Stiglar will never be forgotten.In 1943, a German pilot decided not to shoot down Charlie Brown's damaged plane. Franz passed away in 2008 at the age of 93. In 2003, I was fortunate enough to speak with Franz's great grandson and obtained two autographed photos of Franz Stigler. After the war Franz moved to Canada and was fortunate enough to meet with Charlie Brown, the pilot of the helpless B-17.įranz signed many photos as well as paintings of the amazing event over Germany in 1943. He spent time in every fighter Germany had, but spent most of his time in the ME109 and ME262. ![]() He was shot down 17 times, had 28 kills with another 30 probables, including 11 four engine bombers. If he had finished off "Ye Olde Pub" he would have been awarded the Knights cross.įranz Stigler flew 500 combat missions before the end of the war. Stigler had already shot down two other B-17's that day. Once the gun turret started his way, Stigler pulled away and headed back to base, after showing great compassion for his fellow warriors. Stigler had frantically been trying to point the B-17 towards neutral territory, but Charlie Brown was wounded and too dazed to understand. Brown had one of his crewmen crawl into the top gun turrent and start to point his guns at Stigler's 109. Stigler said he felt if he shot the B-17 down, it would be like shooting a man in a parachute, because he felt the Americans didn't have much of a chance of making it anyway. In reality Stigler's plane was completely full of ammunition. Brown erroneously figured that Stigler's 109 was out of ammo. Stigler motioned to the B-17 pilot, Charlie Brown to land in German Territory. Stigler said he had never seen a plane in such bad shape. He flew next to the bomber and could see that almost every crewman was wounded, with large holes throughout the fuselage. ![]() As he got closer he saw that the tail gunner was obviously dead. ![]() As he closed in the tail guns didn't move. Stigler saw the 17 as an easy kill, and as he approached from the rear,he waited for the tail gunner to take aim on him. 20, 1943, he flew up on "Ye Olde Pub", an American B-17 that had been shot to hell. Franz Stigler was an Oberleutnant that flew in Galland"s JV44 and J6-27 squadrons.
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