A True Hero
The best I have heard of is the story of Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown.
Backstory: Charlie Brown (yes that really was his name) was a B-17 pilot in World War Two. His plane was the “Ye Olde Pub.” Charlie had several raids under his belt on the fateful day when he met Franz. A chance meeting that would have an effect that spread through out history.
Franz himself was a well decorated fighter pilot. In fact he lacked only three air to air kills before he would earn himself Nazi Germany’s highest honor of the Knight’s Cross. That’s twenty two kills at the time of his flight.
The day started like any other. Charlie’s plane took off and headed into Germany for a deep strike mission against a ball bearing plant. Over the target, the flak and fighters made mincemeat of the bomber formation, and tore holes into Charlie’s plane. The tail gunner was taken out outright, while one of the waist gunners had his leg severely injured. The other waist gunner was shell shocked, and the radio operator was trying his hardest to keep the waist gunner alive.
The ball turret gunner was no better off, both his feet were frostbitten, while the navigator had past away from a direct hit to the nose of the plane. Charlie himself was trying to fly with shrapnel in his shoulder, causing him to nearly lose consciousness. One wing out, the rest smoking, it seemed like Charlie and his crew weren’t long for this world.
That’s when Franz appeared on the scene. Franz had taken off to intercept, climbing his BF109 up to deal with the damaged plane. That’s when it happened. Franz slid in behind the bomber, counted to three…and then stopped. Long ago a commander had told him “You are fighter pilots. If I see you aiming for a man in his parachute, I’ll aim for you myself.” Looking at this bomber, Franz decided that they were just as defenseless as a man in a parachute. That’s when he made up his mind.
Pulling his plane alongside, Franz got the attention of the Co-Pilot, and then Charlie. Motioning for them to follow him, he tried to urge them to fly to the neutral Sweden, knowing that though they would be impounded for the duration of the war, the men would get medical attention. The flight to Sweden was only thirty minutes, as opposed to England which was two hours.
Charlie simply misunderstood what Franz was signaling and flew on. Limping back to England on a wing and a prayer. Franz recognized this, and flew his plane around to the left side, positioning himself not three feet from wingtip to wingtip. At this position, the gunners on the ground would recognize this as a German plane and not fire. Franz escorted them back to the English Channel, and then once they were safely over water, waggled his wings, gave a smart salute, and peeled away.
Charlie and his crew survived that day, as did Franz. Years later the two met once more and became close friends. At a family get together, Franz was invited to attend. There, looking on the hundred or so people descended from the crew of the “Ye Olde Pub”, Franz was told that he was a hero. For had he not saved that lonely bomber, no one there would be alive.
Story credit: Reddit / Kabukikitsune