Is this story factual? I think so, but we need some acts of kindness to think about, taking our minds away from the threat ISIS has made about a dirty bomb.
A B-17 was returning from a bombing raid over Germany in 1943. It had been heavily damaged by flak and by fighters. The tail gunner was dead and most of the tail and stabilizer shot away. None of the guns were working and the waist gunner had lost a leg. One engine was out and another was acting out. The nose was torn apart and the plane had plummeted thousands of feet to a low level with little chance of making it the 240 miles back to England.
A German fighter pilot with 27 kills to his credit took off after the crippled bomber. As he approached from behind he could see the dead tail gunner and through the holes in the side of the plane he saw the wounded crew huddled together. He pulled up above the pilot and co-pilot and looked down at them. They looked up to him in fear.
After flying beside them a few minutes the German pilot suddenly saluted them, peeled off and let them go. A few hours later the bomber made it back to England.
Forty years later at a reunion in Florida the American and German pilots met with tears in their lives Twenty-five children and grandchildren of the surviving crew gathered around the German pilot and thanked him for their lives.
A B-17 was returning from a bombing raid over Germany in 1943. It had been heavily damaged by flak and by fighters. The tail gunner was dead and most of the tail and stabilizer shot away. None of the guns were working and the waist gunner had lost a leg. One engine was out and another was acting out. The nose was torn apart and the plane had plummeted thousands of feet to a low level with little chance of making it the 240 miles back to England.
A German fighter pilot with 27 kills to his credit took off after the crippled bomber. As he approached from behind he could see the dead tail gunner and through the holes in the side of the plane he saw the wounded crew huddled together. He pulled up above the pilot and co-pilot and looked down at them. They looked up to him in fear.
After flying beside them a few minutes the German pilot suddenly saluted them, peeled off and let them go. A few hours later the bomber made it back to England.
Forty years later at a reunion in Florida the American and German pilots met with tears in their lives Twenty-five children and grandchildren of the surviving crew gathered around the German pilot and thanked him for their lives.
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