"My Gal Sal" Update

12/15/2006

Over the past year to year and a half, we have not published much on this website regarding “My Gal Sal”.  The reason being is that we are almost finished with the restoration and have been diligently working toward the objective of saving the Blue Ash airport.  From the beginning of this project saving this small airport, fifteen miles north-east of downtown Cincinnati, has been our objective so that we could display this piece of history, “Sal.”

 I am happy to say that round #1 has been won by the good guys.  In other words, we do have a chance now to save the airport and “Sal” now has a chance to be assembled and displayed to the public.  Many years ago our vision was to pay tribute to the men and women in the Army Air Corps who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and hopefully now we are on our way. 

 Stories of what went on during World War II are slowly disappearing with the veterans who lived these stories during their lifetimes.  It is so important that we keep the memories of what happened during this horrific tragedy called World War II alive. I came across this story which is a great example of things that happened during that terrible time.

Aviation History – Charlie Brown’s Story

Charlie Brown was a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 379^th Bomber Group at Kimbolton, England.  His B-17 was called ‘Ye Old Pub’ and was in a terrible state, having been hit by flak and fighters.  The compass was damaged and they were flying deeper over enemy territory instead of heading home to Kimbolton.

After flying over an enemy airfield, a pilot named Franz Steigler was ordered to take off and shoot down the B-17.  When he got near the B-17, he could not believe his eyes.  In his words, ‘he had never seen a plane in such a bad state.’  The tail and rear section was severely damaged and the tail gunner wounded.  The top gunner was all over the top of the fuselage.  The nose was smashed and there were holes everywhere.

Despite having ammunition, Franz flew to the side of the B-17 and looked at Charlie Brown, the pilot.  Brown was scared and struggling to control his damaged and bloodstained plane.

Aware that they had no idea where they were going, Franz waved at Charlie to turn 180 degrees.  Franz escorted and guided the stricken plane to and slightly over the North Sea towards England.  He then saluted Charlie Brown and turned away, back to Europe.

When Franz landed he told the C/O that the plane had been shot down over the sea and never told the truth to anybody.  Charlie Brown and the remains of his crew told all at their briefing but were ordered never to talk about it.

More than 40 years later, Charlie Brown wanted to find the Luftwaffe pilot who saved the crew.  After years of research Franz was found.  He had never talked about the incident, not even at post-war reunions.

They met in the USA at a 379^th Bomber Group reunion together with 25 people who are alive now – all because Franz never fired his guns that day.

Research shows that Charlie Brown lived in Seattle and Franz Steigler had moved to Vancouver, BC after the war.  When they finally met they discovered they had lived less than 200 miles apart for the past 50 years!!