Pilots Ĭharles Lester Brown (24 October 1922 – 24 November 2008) was a B-17 pilot with the 527th Bombardment Squadron of the 379th Bombardment Group within the USAAF's VIII Bomber Command, stationed at RAF Kimbolton in England. Brown died only a few months later, in November of the same year. 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. 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.

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. The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident occurred on 20 December 1943, when, after a successful bomb run on Bremen, 2nd Lt. The book is a riveting story of humanity and mercy set against the ghastly backdrop of war.Charlie Brown (left) and Franz Stigler (right)

Based on thousands of hours of interviews and an evident knowledge of his subject, Makos details the frantic life of the German fighter pilots living on the edge, and the American bomber crews, far from home, fighting to survive. Charlie Brown and his crew through training and to the successful completion of their combat tour in April 1944. Building on the events of that encounter, Makos crafts a multifaceted story, relating the career of Stigler from his first taste of combat in North Africa to his final assignment flying jet fighters in the waning battles of the war in Europe. a top-notch narrative of the unlikely encounter between one of Germany's leading fighter aces, Franz Stigler, and the rookie crew of an American bomber in the frigid skies of Germany in December 1943 - upon engaging the already damaged American plane, Stigler had mercy on his enemies and escorted them to safety. As was noted of this widely acclaimed book in Publishers Weekly: 'Military historian and aviation enthusiast Makos, along with WWII biographer Alexander. Makos is likewise the co-author of the bestselling nonfiction account, 'A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II,' which is just recently out in paperback. On this edition of ST, we speak by phone with Adam Makos: a longtime journalist and military historian who's also the editor of the military-themed magazine, Valor.

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