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Casualty Info
Home Town McBee, South Carolina
Last Address RAF Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, England
Casualty Date Jun 11, 1943
Cause MIA-Finding of Death
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Land
Location Germany
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment American Cemetery - Margraten, Netherlands
B17 aircraft "Flying Fortress" named "Scarlett O'Hara" - Mission: Gelsenkirchen
"Scarlett O'Hara", aircraft 42-29898 (Squadron Code WA-K) was dispatched on August 12, 1943 to bomb the synthetic oil plants at Gelsenkirchen, Germany. This aircraft was listed as Missing in Action following the mission. Crew was as follows:
Osborne, Ralph H 2nd Lt Pilot KIA
*
Jones, Leslie E 2nd Lt Co-Pilot POW
Hand, William D 2nd Lt Nav POW
*Wickham, Thomas C 2nd Lt Bomb POW
*Fambrough, Mildred O TSgt Radio Op KIA
Keenan, Patrick J TSgt Top Turret died as a POW
Truman, Lawrence E SSgt Ball Turret KIA
Irwin, Charles B SSgt Right Waist KIA
*Dayton, Warren T SSgt Left Waist KIA
*Scruggs, Howard R SSgt Tail KIA
Charlie Brown was a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 379th Bomber Group at Kimbolton, England. His B-17 was called 'Ye Old Pub' and was in a terrible state, having been hit by flak and fighters. The compass was damaged and they were flying deeper over enemy territory instead of heading home to Kimbolton. They were lost.
After the B-17 wandered over an enemy airfield, a German pilot named Franz Steigler was ordered to take off and shoot down the B-17. When he got near the B-17, he could not believe his eyes. In his words, he 'had never seen a plane in such a bad state'... The tail and rear section was severely damaged, and the tail gunner wounded. Bits of the top gunner's remains were all over the top of the fuselage. The nose was smashed and there were holes everywhere.
Despite having ammunition, Franz flew to the side of the B-17 and looked at Charlie Brown, the pilot. Brown was scared and struggling to control his damaged and blood-stained plane.
Aware that they had no idea where they were going, Franz waved at Charlie to turn 180 degrees. Franz escorted and guided the stricken plane to, and slightly over, the North Sea towards England. He then saluted Charlie Brown and turned away, back to Europe.
When Franz landed he told the CO that the plane had been shot down over the sea, and never told the truth to anybody. Charlie Brown and the remains of his crew told all at their briefing, but were ordered never to talk about it.
For more than 40 years, Charlie Brown wanted to find the Luftwaffe pilot who saved the crew. After years of research, he found Franz Stigler in 1989. Stigler had never talked about the incident, not even at post-war reunions.
They met in the USA at a 379th Bomber Group reunion, together with 25 people who were alive - all because Franz never fired his guns that day.
When asked why he didn't shoot them down, Stigler later said, "I didn't have the heart to finish those brave men. I flew beside them for a long time. They were trying desperately to get home and I was going to let them do that. I could not have shot at them. It would have been the same as shooting at a man in a parachute."
Both men died in 2008, Stigler in March and Brown in November. There are various embellishments of this story that don't appear to be true, such as the two pilots living within 500 miles of each other, but the story itself is true.
Of course it's an awesome story, but the often-told story leaves out something. Franz Stigler didn't shoot down Charlie Brown that day because this particular Nazi officer and his British enemy had similar value systems. Franz Stigler thought it dishonorable to kill a man in a disabled plane limping home. I suspect there was enough ammo on board that "Ye Olde Pub" could have shot at the German, but because he didn't threaten them, they didn't shoot.
Assigned 8th AAF: April 1943
Combat Record
�?� FIRST MISSION ST. NAZAIRE, FRANCE 29 MAY 1943
�?� LAST MISSION PILSEN, CZECHOSLOVAKIA 25 APRIL 1945
�?� 315 ENEMY AIRCRAFT SHOT DOWN, 149 B-17s LOST IN COMBAT
�?� LED 8th AF IN BOMBING ACCURACY
�?� LED 8th AF IN LOWEST ABORTIVE RATE
�?� LED 8th AF IN NUMBER OF MOST EFFECTIVE BOMBING SORTIES
�?� TWO DISTINGUISHED UNIT CITATIONS
�?� DROPPED 26,460 TONS OF BOMBS
�?� 157 COMBAT MISSIONS OF B-17G OL�?? GAPPY, TOPS IN 8th AIR FORCE
330 Missions
�?� FRANCE
�?� GERMANY
�?� BELGIUM
�?� POLAND
�?� NETHERLANDS
1,473 Casualities
�?� 513 KIA
�?� 122 MIA
�?� 785 POWS
�?� 34 EVADEES
�?� 19 INTERNEES
Commanders
�?� COL. MAURICE A. PRESTON Nov. 1942-Oct. 1944
�?� COL. LEWIS E. LYLE Oct. 1944-May 1945
"Powerful Katrinka" 42-107068
524th BS
Fuselage Code: WA-C
Ground Crew Chief - John"Bud" Sterling
First assigned Crew (Pictured Above)
Lt John G. Hamlin Crew
Starting from the left, rear row:
Clarence W. Poethig (N)
John G. Hamlin (P)
James E. Pestshe (CP)
Elmer J. Armstrong (TT)
Starting from the left, front row:
Boyce G. Nelson (RO)
James E. Pitlick (WG)
Joe E. Fennig (TG)
Stanley M. Wick (BT)
Lost June 25, 1944
Lt Thomas Butcher Crew on board
42-5828 "The Sweater Girl"
524th BS
Fuselage Codes WA-O/D
(Pictured above is the first assigned crew)
Wilma L Hawkins 2nd Lt Pilot
William C Follmer 2nd Lt Nav
Harold E Forrest T/Sgt RO/Gunner
Robert H Fernstaedt S/Sgt BTG
Alex S Roule S/Sgt TG
Garland H Morgan T/Sgt TTG
Thomas O Lamph Sgt RWG
Robert J Redmon S/Sgt Lwg
Donald W Hefkin 2nd Lt Bom
Dewey G Barnes Jr. 2nd Lt Co-Pilot
The Sweater Girl's last mission
She was Forced to crash land in Oberbruch-Germany
on Feb 22, 1944
42-30191 "The Bolevich"
525th BS
Fuselage Code: FR-C
Damaged by AAA
then shot down by Fw Cristof Nagel
of the NJG 101/10
Flying in a BF 1009
at Elfershausen, Germany
Aug 17, 1943
on mission to Schweinfurt
#4 engine burst into flames & some thought
#3 was on fire but not confirmed when bailout
call was given.
Capt Merchant crash landed the aircraft
because by the time he was sure all were out it was too
late for him to do so. After he landed the aircraft he
was told by Germans that T/Sgt Hecht's chute did
not open & he was shown the body as proof.
42-39782 "Pistol Packin Mama"
Assigned to
First the 527th BS Then to the 526th BS
Fuselage Code(s): FO-M
42-97128 "Screwball Express"
Ground Crew Chief: S/Sgt Leslie C. Starbuck
527th BS
Fuselage Code FO-M
Lt Howard E Towers Crew Pictured
lost over Ingolstadt,
with Hourtal Crew
5 April 1945
Wing/Command Assignment
VIII BC, 1 BW, 103 PCBW: May 1943
VIII BC, 1 BD, 41 CBW: 13 Sep 1943
1 BD, 41 CBW 8 Jan 1944
1 AD, 41 CBW 1 Jan 1945
Combat Aircraft:
B-17F
B-17G
Stations
KIMBOLTON 20 May 1943 to 12 July 1945 (Air ech Bovingdon 24 Apr 43 to 21 May 1943
Group COs
Col. Maurice A. Preston 26 November 1942 to 10 October 1944
Col. Lewis E. Lyle 11 Oct 1944 to 5 May 1945
Lt. Col. Lloyd C. Mason 6 May 1945 to 22 May 1945
Lt. Col. Horace E. Frink 23 May 1945 to 25 June 1945
First Mission: 29 May 1943
Last Mission: 25 Apr 1945
Missions: 330
Total Sorties: 10,492
Total Bomb Tonnage: 26,460 Tons
Aircraft MIA: 141
Major Awards:
Distinguished Unit Citations:
28 May 1943 to 31 July 1944: operations this period
11 Jan 1944 to all 1 BD units
Claims to Fame
Flew more sorties than any other bomb group in the 8th AF
Dropped a greater bomb tonnage than any other group
Lower abortive rate than any other group in action from 1943.
Pioneered the 12-plane formation that became Standard during 1944
"Ol Gappy" a B-17G flew 157 missions, probably more than any other in the 8th AF
Early History:
Activated 26 November 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho. The Group assembled at Wendover Field Utah on December 2nd 1942. They trained there until the 2nd of March 1943. Then moved to Sioux City AAB Iowa on 3 February 1943 until their departure in 9 April 1943. The ground unit moved for final processing at Camp Douglas, Wis, and then to Camp Shanks, New York. They sailed on the Aquitania on the 10th of May 1943, and arrived at Clyde on the 18th of May 1943. The Aircraft left Sioux City on the 9th of April 1943 for Bangor Me. via Kearney, Nebraska, and Selfridge, Michigan. They commenced overseas movement on the 15th of April 1943 by the North Atlantic ferry route.
Subsequent History:
Scheduled to transport US troops from Europe to Casablanca. The unit moved to Casablanca in early June with the last aircraft flown back to the States and the Group inactivated as Casablanca on the 25th July 1945. The unit was activated once again as a Strategic Air Command wing and assigned the first B-52H aircraft in 1962.
