Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident occurred on 20 December 1943 , when , after a successful bomb run on Bremen , Charles ' Charlie ' Brown ' s B - 17 Flying Fortress ( named " Ye Olde Pub " ) was severely damaged by German fighters . " Luftwaffe " pilot and ace Franz Stigler had an opportunity to shoot down the crippled bomber , but instead , for humanitarian reasons , decided to allow the crew to fly back to their airfield in England . The two pilots met each other 40 years later after the extensive search by Charlie Brown and the friendship that the two developed lasted until their deaths . Pilots . 2nd Lt . Charlie Brown ( a farm boy from West Virginia ) was a B - 17F pilot with United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) ' s 379th Bomber Group stationed at RAF Kimbolton in England . Franz Stigler ( a former airline pilot from Bavaria ) was a veteran " Luftwaffe " fighter pilot attached to Jagdgeschwader 27 and at the time had 22 victories to his name and would be eligible for the coveted Knight ' s Cross with one more downed enemy aircraft . Bremen mission . The mission was Brown ' s first and targeted a Focke - Wulf aircraft production facility in Bremen . Bomb run . Brown ' s B - 17 began its 10 - minute bomb run at 27 , 300 feet with an outside air temperature of minus 60 °C . Before the bomber released its bomb load , accurate anti - aircraft flak shattered the Plexiglas nose , knocked out the number two engine and further damaged the number four engine which was already in questionable condition and had to be throttled back to prevent overspeeding . The damage slowed the bomber and Brown was unable to remain with his formation and fell back as a straggler – a position from which he would come under sustained enemy attacks . Attacks by fighters . Brown ' s straggling B - 17 was now attacked by over a dozen enemy fighters ( a mixture of Bf - 109s and FW - 190s ) for over 10 minutes . Further damage was sustained including the number three engine which would produce only half power ( meaning the aircraft had at worst 40 % of its total rated power available ) . The bomber ' s internal oxygen , hydraulic and electrical systems were also damaged . The bomber ' s only remaining defensive armament were the two dorsal turret guns and one of three forward - firing nose guns ( from eleven available ) . Most of the crew were now wounded ( the tail gunner had been killed ) and Brown was wounded in his right shoulder . Lacking oxygen , Brown lost consciousness , but came round to find the bomber remarkably flying level at around 1000 ft . He regained the controls and began the long flight home in the shattered bomber . Franz Stigler . Brown ' s damaged bomber was spotted by Germans on the ground , including Franz Stigler , who was refueling and rearming at an airfield . He soon took off in his Messerschmitt Bf - 109 and quickly caught up with Brown ' s plane . Through the damaged bomber ' s air frame Stigler was clearly able to see the injured and incapacitated crew . To the American pilot ' s surprise , Stigler did not open fire on the crippled bomber . Remembering the words of one of his commanding officers from the Jagdgeschwader 27 , Gustav Rödel , during his time fighting in north Africa – “ You are fighter pilots first , last , always . If I ever hear of any of you shooting at someone in a parachute , I ' ll shoot you myself . " Stigler later commented , " To me , it was just like they were in a parachute . I saw them and I couldn ' t shoot them down . " Twice , Stigler tried to get Brown to land his plane at a German airfield and surrender , or divert to nearby neutral Sweden , where he and his crew would receive medical treatment but be interned and sit out the remainder of the war . Brown refused and flew on . Stigler then flew near Brown ' s plane , escorting it until they reached the North Sea and departing with a salute . Landing . Brown managed to fly the 250 miles across the North Sea and land his plane at RAF Seething , home of the 448th Bomb Group and at the after - flight debriefing informed his officers about how a German pilot had let him go . He was told not to repeat this to the rest of the unit so as not to build any positive sentiment about enemy pilots . Brown commented , " Someone decided you can ' t be human and be flying in a German cockpit . " Stigler said nothing of the incident to his commanding officers , knowing that a German pilot who spared the enemy while in combat risked execution . Lt . Brown went on to complete a combat tour . Post war and meeting of pilots . After the war , Charlie Brown returned home to West Virginia and went to college , returning to the Air Force in 1949 and serving until 1965 . Later , as a State Department Foreign Service Officer , he made numerous trips to Laos and Vietnam . But in 1972 , he hung up his government service hat and moved to Miami to become an inventor . Stigler moved to Canada in 1953 and became a successful businessman . In 1986 , the then retired Colonel Charlie Brown was asked to speak at a combat pilot reunion event called " Gathering of the Eagles " . Someone asked him if he had any memorable missions during World War II . Brown thought for a minute and recalled the story of Stigler ' s escort and salute . Afterwards Brown decided he should try to find the unknown German pilot . After four years of searching vainly for U . S . and West German Air Force records that might shed some light on who the other pilot was , Brown hadn ' t come up with much . He then wrote a letter to a combat pilot association newsletter . A few months later , Brown received a letter from Stigler who was living in Canada . " I was the one " it said . When they spoke on the phone , Stigler described his plane , the escort and salute confirming everything Brown needed to hear to know he was the German fighter - pilot involved in the incident . Between 1990 and 2008 , Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler became close friends and remained so until their deaths within several months of each other in 2008 . Books . The incident was the subject of Adam Makos ' " New York Times " best - selling book , " A Higher Call : An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War - Torn Skies of World War II " , published 19 December 2012 .