I want to share that story with everyone I see today. Thanks for posting.
Honor
First. Last. Always.
Without honor, there is nothing else.
Something this country seems to be losing.
Both men knew the definition of “is.”
A minor correction - a B-17 couldn't generally fly on one engine, except when very light and in "ground effect" (closer to the ground than the span of the wings).
There is a story of one B-17 that lost three engines, the pilot was ditching the aircraft, and it bounced back into the air. Pilot figured "WTF? At least we're getting closer to England." A bit later, still couldn't keep it in the air, so he went to ditch again. Bounced again. Meanwhile, the aircraft was getting lighter due to the fuel burned by one good engine so they were getting a little farther with each bounce, and eventually made it back to England.
Great story!
A pleasant account for a Sunday morning ... thanx for the post
My wife used to complain when I watched old war movies. She said “they glorify war.” I told her they are an example of the human spirit overcoming incredible odds.
One of my uncles served in WWII against the Japanese on Okinawa. To this day he has never spoke of what he saw. I’ve read a lot about how the Japs were and I don’t doubt he saw some terrible stuff. But he survived and prospered. He currently lives in Kansas but his health has been failing.
Isn't Snoopy supposed to be the one who has encounters with the Red Baron?
This story made my morning. Thanks for posting it.
I would have shot him down. How many Germans did the pilot kill on subsequent missions?
Wow...what a story....
Thanks for posting it...
JG 27 ACE FRANZ STIGLER: Franz Stigler started flying gliders at age 12 and soloed in a bi-plane in 1933. He joined Lufthansa, becoming an Airline Captain, before joining the Luftwaffe in 1940. There, he became an instructor pilot, with one of his students being Gerhard Barkhorn, who would later become the second highest scoring Ace in history with over 300 victories. Franz transferred to Bf 109 fighter aircraft upon learning of the loss of his brother August, who died piloting a bomber shot down over the English Channel. Franz flew combat in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Western Europe. He served as a Squadron Commander of three squadrons (Numbers 6, 8, and 12, of JG 27) and twice a Wing Commander, all flying Bf 109 fighters. Franz formed EJG-1, possibly the first ever pre-jet training squadron before being hand picked as the Technical Officer of Gen. Adolph Galland’s elite JV 44, “Squadron of Experts,” flying the Me-262 jet. Franz was credited with 28 confirmed victories and over thirty probables. He flew 487 combat missions, was wounded four times, and was shot down seventeen times, four by enemy fighters, four by ground fire, and nine times by gunners on American bombers. He bailed out six times and rode his damaged aircraft down eleven times. He emigrated to Canada in 1953 and became a successful businessman. In addition to his many Luftwaffe decorations, Franz was presented with the “Order of the Star of Peace” by the Federation of Combattant Allies En Europe for his act of compassion on December 20, 1943. He is believed to be the only Luftwaffe pilot to be so recognized. Franz was also made an honorary member of the 379th Bomb Group Association. Our friend, Franz, died in 2008 at the age of 93.
bump for later
There is (or was around 1998) a big oil painting depicting this story in the Air Force officer’s club at the Charleston SC AFB. I was there for a friend’s retirement ceremony. So was a crusty old P-51 Mustang pilot that I knew from the Navy base marina. I pointed out the picture, he studied it, and said it had to be BS. (Yes, I know, it really happened, this was just the Mustang pilot’s take on it.)
He said, the German had to be out of ammo or his guns were jammed. You didn’t let air crews escape to come back at you another day. Trained air crews (even just the pilot) were more valuable than the airplanes they flew.
This set the old fighter pilot off onto a story. He said when he arrived in Europe in late 1944, he was assigned to be the wingman to an ace. My old friend said that he was not an ace himself, but that he was a “parachute ace.”
What the hell is that, I asked?
When his lead plane shot down a German, and the German bailed out over German territory, he executed a standard maneuver to circle back and machine gun the German pilot under his parachte. Hence, “parachute ace,” not a ticket to glory in the history books, but harsh reality.
The old pilot said that it was paradoxically MORE dangerous to parachute over your own territory. Your enemies knew that if you made it to the ground safe and sound, you would be in a new fighter plane tomorrow. If you were a German parachuting over England, or a Brit or Yank parachuting over Germany, you would wind up in a POW camp, out of the war. No point to shoot that guy. But a German pilot parachuting down to German territory?
Kill him. It was war. A trained German fighter pilot would kill more Americans or Brits tomorrow if you let him live.
“Parachute ace.” That was a new one to me.
Also, I met a German on a sailboat in Hilo Hawaii. He was in a refugee column at the end of WW2, mostly schoos-age children being evacuated west along a road near the Baltic. He said that American P-51 flew up and down the road strafing them until they were out of ammo, back and forth. He remembered it vividly, and said the planes were low enough to see the pilot’s faces as they rolled and looped around.
He told me this story only to make the point that not only Germans did war crimes in WW2. He said the refugee column was nothing but civilians, moslty kids and teachers, no military, and the Mustangs strafed and strafed them again and again, up and down the road. This made an extremely vivid memory for the 13 year old German refugee boy. I heard him tell the story in detail, and I have zero doubt about his truthfulness.
I heard this strafing story a few years after the Mustang pilot told me how he had become a “parachute ace” killing German pilots under silk.
War is hell. There are damned few salutes made by enemies, and many more atrocities of varying types and degrees.
But there are no fancy oil paintings in officer’s clubs showing a “parachute ace” in action.
What an AMAZING story.
Thanks for posting
Wow, great read.
*bump*