There are people who suffer life
with the name Charles Brown; forever being referred to
as 'Charlie Brown'; perhaps never quite being accepted
for what they bring to this world.
Then there are those 'Charlie Browns' about whom you
would never confuse the man and the character.
 Charles
L. "Charlie" Brown was
one of the latter. We lost "Charlie" in November,
2008. There was a lot written about him at the time, more
perhaps than at any time in his previous 86 years.
They wrote about how Charlie had spent a career in the
U.S. Air Force, rising to the rank of Colonel, how he and
Delores had two daughters, how in 1987 he was named National
Inventor of the Year for his work in the field of "smokeless
diesel" engines and how he had received the Distinguished
West Virginian Award in 1992, awarded by the Governor of
the state.
 But
mostly they wrote about how Charlie had been a B-17 Flying
Fortress pilot with the 379th Bomber Group at Kimbolton
, England, and how on his very first mission this 21 year
old pilot, over Bremen, Germany in December of 1943, had
his bomber so heavily damage by flack that it was problematic
they would ever return safely to England. He and six of
his crew members were wounded, much of the tail section
of "Ye Old Tub" had been blasted away, one engine
was out, full power was only available on one of the remaining
engines, and 11 of the machine guns were knocked out.
 Their
situation was desperate as they turned Westerly over the
channel. It soon became much worse as their plight was
discovered by a German BF-109 fighter, flown not just by
any pilot, but by the German Luftwaffe Ace, Oberleutnant
Franz Stigler.
Oberleutnant Franz Stigler, 29 years old, 28 confirmed
allied victories, 500 combat flights, the Iron Cross 2nd
Class, the Iron Cross 1st Class, the German Cross in Gold
and a pending “Knights Cross”, approached the
stricken bomber cautiously. A B-17 bristles with
machine guns, but the guns didn't answer his approach.
With the crew members wounded and the gun turrets damaged,
their was little the crew could do but watch the fighter
close and contemplated their fate.
Those of us who have had the misfortune of the experience
will testify that life and consequence are not predictable
things in air warfare. Thus it was that the German flew
beside the bomber for a time. He seemed to assess its condition
and the possibility it would ever make it back to safety,
then inexplicably, turned and flew away.
Brown, himself wounded in the shoulder, continued his
struggle to bring the bomber home. After crossing 250 miles
of the North Sea Brown managed to bring his stricken bomber
down at Seething on the English coast, home of the newel
formed 448th Bomb Group.
Brown finished the war always wondering what possessed
the 109 pilot to 'let them go'. Finally in the early '80's
Brown set about finding what happened that day and who
that Luftwaffe pilot was. It took a while but eventually
Stigler was found to be living near Vancouver Canada and
the two men met in 1989.  In
their 80's the men got together at Air Force and Civic
events to relate their stories. "The most heavily
damaged aircraft I ever saw that was still flying." would
recall Stigler, "I just couldn't bring myself to shoot
them down".
Stigler had continued the war, heavily decorated and eventually
selected as one of the few to fly the ME-262 jet in
combat.
The Air Force awarded Brown and his surviving crew members
Silver Stars for valor in combat. Brown also received
the Air Force's second-highest honor, the Air Force Cross.
|
