User:24.104.131.50/sandbox

Franz Stigler (21 August 1915 - 22 March 2008) was a German Luftwaffe ace. He was given credit to 28 kills, with more unconfirmed, while flying for Nazi Germany during World War II, participating in the North African Campaign, the Italian Campaign and in the Defense of the Reich. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1942, and served in Jagdgeschwader 27. After Field Marshal Erwin Rommel began his retreat out of Africa, Stigler and his fighter wing evacuated and went to fight in Sicily to defend the supplies of bullets, fuel, and food to the remaining soldiers left in Africa. He would be moved back into Nazi Germany to serve in the Defense of the Reich.

He flew a total of 492 combat missions, and shot down 22 aircraft, with the addition of the extra 6 points credited to him from shooting down bombers, including B-24 Liberator aircraft and B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft. He shot down 11 bombers in total while in the Defense of the Reich.

Early Life and Career
Franz was born near the Danube River city of Regensburg to his parents on August 21, 1915. Franz fostered a love for flying when he was a child, and took his first flight in a Zögling (Pupil Glider) at the age of 12. His love for flying continued onto his early adult years, where he studied at the University of Würzburg, but dropped out to concentrate on flying itself. He flew for Lufthansa, the largest airline at that time and the national airline of Germany, and would log about 2,000 hours of flying time. However, in 1937, he was forced to start a new job as an instructor to train pilots for the relatively new military, which was initially developed secretly in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. He served as an instructor at a training school in Dresden, training pilots such as Gerhard Barkhorn, the second most successful fighter ace of all time. Franz's brother, August, was also in the Luftwaffe, but was serving in the bomber divisions. August would die off the coast of France, and Franz would join the Luftwaffe as a fighter pilot after his brother's death.

World War II
Franz volunteered to fight on the front lines and was promoted to feldwebel after graduating from boot camp. He was sent to North Africa to fight with JG 27, arriving in the late spring of 1942. Despite having thousands of flight hours logged, his first encounter with the enemy in the desert was a total disaster: he abandoned his wing-leader, Gustav Rödel, and fled from the battle area. He would later score his first victory, a Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk fighter plane of the Desert Air Force. Stigler was shot down later, however, and survived only by being taken back to base by a Bedouin tribe. By the end of July, Stigler had become an ace, shooting down 5 aircraft. He would keep his rudder bare, to copy Rödel's rudder, which was also bare to show that personal glory did not matter. However, following the success of Category:1915 births Category:2008 deaths