Charlie Brown (pilot)

Charles Lester "Charlie" Brown (October 24, 1922 – November 24, 2008) was a United States Army Air Forces pilot during World War II. He became well known for being the pilot of the B-17F Flying Fortress named Ye Olde Pub which was involved in the Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident.

Early life
Born on October 24, 1922, in Weston, West Virginia as the youngest of six children to a family of farmers, Charlie was interested in flying planes from an early age. In 1939, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he would join the United States Army Air Forces in 1942.

Military service
After completing flight training and becoming a pilot, Brown was assigned to the 527th Bomb Squadron of the 379th Bomb Group. On December 20, 1943, at the age of 21, he was sent on his first mission when he flew the Ye Olde Pub over Bremen, Germany. Although the bombing mission of a Fw 190 Factory was considered successful, the Ye Olde Pub had sustained damage to two of its engines during the bombing run, leaving it unable to keep up with the bomber formation and the protection it provided. After various attacks from Bf 109s and Fw 190s, the Ye Olde Pub was left without oxygen, working hydraulics, and electrical systems. Another engine had also suffered damage and failed, and the tail gunner had been killed. Brown lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen, and when he regained consciousness, the bomber was at an extremely low attitude of 1,000 meters. Brown rejected bailing out as an option due to some of the crew members being wounded and unable to bail out, and they continued to fly back to their home base, RAF Kimbolton.

After a few minutes, Brown noticed a Bf 109 to his right, piloted by Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler. Stigler had originally planned to shoot the B-17 down but decided not to due to the state of the plane, which he compared to shooting people bailing out with parachutes. He tried to motion to them to land in Germany, which Brown refused. Franz then flew escort with the bomber, which kept it from being fired on by flak stations. Once over the North Sea, Stigler then motioned to them to land in neutral Sweden which was closer than the 2-hour flight to England. Again, Brown refused, and after this, Stigler saluted and flew off, leaving them to crash in the North Sea. However, they made it to England, wondering about the unknown pilot who decided to spare them. After this, the story was kept secret and Brown was quiet about the event until 1986.

Later life
After the German pilot spared his life, he made it his mission to find out who it was, and he would eventually meet Franz Stigler in the 1990s and they would remain close friends until Stigler's death in March 2008. He was a scientist and inventor in his later life and received the Air Force Cross and Purple Heart. He lived in Miami from 1972 until his death on November 24, 2008, at the age of 86.