The B-17 bomber was called “Ye Olde Pub”. It was on its first mission. The target was a German aircraft factory in Breman, Germany. The date was May 25, 1943. Its pilot was 2nd Lt. Charles “Charlie” Brown. Bremen was defended by 250 anti-aircraft guns. “Ye Olde Pub” managed to drop its bombs and then paid for it. Its nose was hit. Its #2 engine was knocked out. Its #4 engine was damaged. It could not keep up with the bomber formation, so now it was on its own. A dozen German fighters swarmed to finish it off. In ten minutes of hell, the bomber was riddled with bullets, damaging the #3 engine and wounding most of the crew. Brown was hit in the shoulder. The tail gunner was decapitated. On of the door gunners named Alex Yelesenka was badly wounded in the knee. The morphine syringes were frozen due to the freezing air coursing the interior. The bomber was now creeping along on 40% power. The bomber had lost communications.
After the gaggle of fighters left, a lone Bf. 109 came along. The pilot was an ace named Franz Sigler. One more kill would get him the Knight’s Cross. He approached the bomber from behind and noted that the tail gunner was not firing at him. A closer look showed the man was dead. Stigler pulled up alongside to check out the bomber. He could see the interior due to the openings blown away. The crew was clearly in distress. Stigler’s commanding officer in North Africa had told him to never fire on an enemy who had parachuted. He considered this to be a similar situation of an enemy that was vulnerable. Most of the bomber’s guns were frozen and Brown ordered the others not to fire as long as the German did not attack. Stigler tried to signal to Brown that he should land the crippled bomber at a German airfield or fly to neutral Sweden, Brown could not understand the motions and was determined to get back to Great Britain. He and his crew agreed that bailing out was not an option because of Yelesanka’s injury. Realizing that the bomber was not going to land, Stigler stayed alongside to keep anti-aircraft from shooting at it. He shepherded it over the coast and with a salute let “Ye Olde Pub” go on its way. Incredibly, Brown managed to get the bomber to a British airfield. The bomber never flew again, but Brown finished his tour. Stigler later piloted an Me. 262 jet fighter until the end of the war. He flew over 400 missions in the war. He had shot down 27 planes. Decades later, Stigler decided to try and find his frenemy. His four years of research were fruitless. In 1990, he posted a letter in a pilot’s newsletter in Europe. A few months later, he was contacted by Stigler, who now lived in Canada. The two men met and became close friends for the rest of his life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brown_and_Franz_Stigler_incident
https://historycollection.com/mercy-war-german-pilot-spared-crippled-b-17-wounded-crew-two-pilots-became-friends-war/3/
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