![]() For unknown reasons, the debriefing was classified “secret” and remained so for many years. The crew was debriefed on their mission, including the strange encounter with the Bf-109. The B-17 did make it across 250 miles of storm-tossed North Sea and landed at Seething near the English coast, home of the 448th Bomb Group, which had not yet flown its first mission. Why had he not shot them down? The answer did not emerge for many years. After escorting them for several miles out over the North Sea, the Luftwaffe pilot saluted, rolled over, and disappeared. The pilot waved, then flew across the B-17’s nose and motioned Brown to land in Germany, which the aircraft commander refused to do. While nursing the battered bomber toward England, Brown looked out the right window and saw a Bf-109 flying on his wing. The alternative was a thin chance of reaching the UK. With three seriously injured aboard, he rejected bailing out or a crash landing. Still partially dazed, Lieutenant Brown began a slow climb with only one engine at full power. When he regained full consciousness, the B-17 was miraculously level at less than 1,000 feet. The last thing oxygen-starved Brown remembers was reversing a steep turn, becoming inverted, and looking “up” at the ground. ![]() Each time a wave of attackers approached, he turned into them, trying to disrupt their aim with his remaining firepower. Lieutenant Brown took a bullet fragment in his right shoulder.Ĭharlie Brown figured the only chance of surviving this pitifully unequal battle was to go on the offensive. ![]() The tailgunner was killed and all but one of the crew in the rear incapacitated by wounds or exposure to the frigid air. The bomber’s 11 defensive guns were reduced by the extreme cold to only the two top turret guns and one forward-firing nose gun. Oxygen, hydraulic, and electrical systems were damaged, and the controls were only partially responsive. The number three engine was hit and would produce only half power. ![]() Almost immediately, the lone and limping B-17 came under a series of attacks from 12 to 15 Bf-109s and FW-190s that lasted for more than 10 minutes. ![]()
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