On 20 December 1943, so close to Christmas, two men met – in mid-air, in two different aircraft. About 304 metres above the ground. One was a German by the name of Oberleutenant Fritz Stigler, fighter ace, flying a German, an Me-109G fighter, flying for Hitler’s Third Reich and the other was an American, 2nd Lieutenant Charles (Charlie) Brown, flying an American B-17 four engine bomber, well just enough of it left to let you call it a B-17 bomber, with only one engine still working, and most of the crew severely wounded or dead. Charlie Brown’s plane was a sitting duck. With this German fighter next to him there was nothing he could do that could save him or his crew from being blasted out of the sky. What happened next was unbelievable.

Tag words: Oberleutenant Fritz Stigler; fighter ace; Me-109G fighter; Adolf Hitler; Third Reich; 2nd Lieutenant Charles (Charlie) Brown; American B-17 Flying Fortess bomber; Great War; Lufthansa; Luftwaffe; Gerhard Barkhorn; Richard Bong; Messerschmitt Me 109F; Afrika Korps; North Africa; Jadgeschwader 27; Leutnant Gustav Roedel; Caterpillar Club; 379thBombardment Group; Ken Burns; The War; Focke-Wulf; Ye Olde Pub; Jagdverband 44; Me-262; Knight’s Cross; West Virginia Wesleyan College; Purple Heart; Gathering of the Eagles;