Bert Stiles Bert Stiles ( August 30 , 1920 - November 26 , 1944 ) was an American author of short stories who was killed in action during World War II while serving as a fighter pilot in the US Army Air Forces . Youth . Born in Denver , Colorado he was the son of an electrician , Bert Stiles Senior , and a music teacher , Elizabeth Huddleston Stiles . He attended Denver ' s South High School and worked summers as a junior forest ranger in Estes Park , both of which became sources of material for his short stories . After graduation from high school in 1938 he entered Colorado College , with a pronounced interest in writing both stories and poetry . He became a feature writer for the campus newspaper , " The Tiger " , expressing pacifist views in vogue at the time , and in June 1941 , isolated himself in his fraternity house and produced twenty - seven short stories . Stiles mailed samples of his prose to Ruth and Max Aley , literary agents in New York City , who expressed an interest in seeing more . Stiles left college to hitchhike to New York ; he was stopped twice by police and sent home twice , but eventually reached New York and delivered his stories in person . The Aleys employed him as a handyman and provided him living space on their farm in Connecticut in order to mentor him in his writing . Stiles wrote ten hours a day throughout the summer of 1941 and his diligence was rewarded when his first story was accepted in September by the " Saturday Evening Post " , which eventually published " The Ranger " series of stories based on his experiences in Estes Park . He also sold stories to " Liberty " and " The American " magazines . USAAF service . Stiles enlisted in the United States Army in January 1943 , becoming an aviation cadet , and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Corps , in November . He won pilots wings and was assigned to a B - 17 Flying Fortress replacement crew sent to the Eighth Air Force in March 1944 . Bomber co - pilot . Assigned to the 401st Bomb Squadron , 91st Bomb Group at Bassingbourn , England , he began flying missions with the crew of 2nd Lt . Sam Newton on April 19 , 1944 , with their first to Kassel , Germany . Thereafter the crew flew an average of two to three missions per week , usually on consecutive days . This pattern continued through May as the 91st attacked both strategic targets in Germany , V - 1 launch sites , and targets in France in preparation for Operation Overlord . Their first mission against Berlin occurred on May 7 . Newton ' s crew was assigned to and primarily flew a B - 17G - 50 - BO , s / n 42 - 102504 , nicknamed " Times A - Wastin " ' ; it carried the fuselage codes LL - D . The crew flew one mission in another noted 91st B - 17 , " Shoo Shoo Baby " , on May 25 , 1944 , to bomb Essey - les - Nancy airfield in France , but turned back to base early because the plane ' s oxygen system malfunctioned . Stiles continued to write , both highly personalized pieces for the London " Daily Mail " , articles for " Yank " and " Air Force Magazine " , and the manuscript for a book . He eventually flew twenty missions with Sam Newton ' s crew , and his manuscript was a journal - style memoir of his experiences with them . In mid - June 1944 , he was separated from Newton ' s crew and out of combat for a month , and when he resumed flying , he finished his 35 - mission combat tour for the 91st Bomb Group with a different crew . Fighter pilot . Stiles refused an opportunity to return to the United States as a flight instructor and volunteered for a second tour with the Eighth , requesting an assignment to fighter s . He completed conversion training and was assigned as a pilot with the 505th Fighter Squadron , 339th Fighter Group , a P - 51 Mustang unit stationed at Fowlmere , England , about five miles distant from his previous base at Bassingbourn . On November 26 , 1944 , on the 16th mission of his second tour , Stiles ' squadron was flying at 26 , 000 feet altitude south of Hanover , Germany , on a bomber escort mission . Stiles was flying a P - 51 nicknamed " Tar Heel " , normally flown by Captain James R . Starnes of his squadron ( P - 51D - s / n 44 - 14113 ) . Encountering 40 - 60 Luftwaffe FW - 190 s , Stiles engaged one in combat and shot it down ( Air Force Historical Study No . 85 credits Stiles with the kill ) , but apparently became disoriented when the dogfight descended to low altitude . His P - 51 impacted the ground almost immediately , killing him . Stiles is interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery , Neupré , Liège , Belgium . Remembrance . Stiles was one of the veterans profiled in the History Channel ' s show WWII in HD . " Serenade to the Big Bird " . His mother commemorated his memory by having his book published in 1947 in England ( Lindsay Drummond Ltd . ) , with its first U . S . publication in 1952 ( W . W . Norton & Company ) . Entitled Serenade to the Big Bird , the book achieved cult status among aviation enthusiasts for its honest depictions of bomber combat and also won favorable literary reviews for its spare , Hemingway - style prose and its anti - war sensitivity . It has been re - issued periodically , the most recent in 1998 .