'Charlie' Brown (OctoNovember 24, 2008): pilot / aircraft commander įor this mission, Ye Olde Pub's crew consisted of: However, since three bombers had to turn back because of mechanical problems, Brown was told to move up to the front of the formation. Brown's crew was assigned to fly 'Purple Heart Corner,' a spot on the edge of the formation that was considered especially dangerous because the Germans targeted the edges, instead of shooting straight through the middle of the formation. Bremen was guarded by more than 250 flak guns. The men of the 527th Bombardment Squadron were informed in a pre-mission briefing that they might encounter hundreds of German fighters. The mission was the Ye Olde Pub crew's first and targeted the Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft production facility in Bremen. Franz Stigler, a former Lufthansa airline pilot from Bavaria, was a veteran Luftwaffe fighter pilot attached to Jagdgeschwader 27. 'Charlie' Brown ('a farm boy from Weston, West Virginia', in his own words) was a B-17F pilot with the 379th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces' (USAAF) 8th Air Force, stationed at RAF Kimbolton in England. Brown died only a few months later, in November of the same year.

After an extensive search by Brown, the two pilots met each other 50 years later and developed a friendship that lasted until Stigler's death in March 2008. Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler had the opportunity to shoot down the crippled bomber but did not do so, and instead escorted it over and past German-occupied territory so as to protect it. The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident occurred on 20 December 1943, when, after a successful bomb run on Bremen, 2nd Lt Charles 'Charlie' Brown's B-17 Flying Fortress (named 'Ye Olde Pub') was severely damaged by German fighters. Charlie Brown (left) and Franz Stigler (right)

Ye olde pub