Long before Charlie Brown of "Peanuts" fame, there was Charlie Brown from West Virginia, a farm boy who dreamed of flying, his dream comes true because of WWII. Charlie is sent to England to fly B-17's against the German Air Force
On the German side, we have Franz Stigler, a former Bavarian airline pilot, Franz never joined the Nazi party, nor did he wish to be in the war - however, Franz was to become a pilot in the German Air Force.
The book follows Franz's "career" in the German Air Force, it became very interesting to me, due to his being stationed in Libya (due to my father's career in the USAF, I lived in Libya from 1959-1962).
In a moment of "Higher Calling" Franz escorts Charlie's battered B-17 out of German air space to the "sea" where the bomber made "history" by making it back to England, although, hardly in one piece.
Normally, I do not read books regarding WWII, read many in my younger years, however, as I mentioned at the beginning I heard the author on Diane Rehm, and just wanted to read this one - am really glad I did.
In the course of the war, neither pilot discussed what occurred, Franz because of the consequences of what the Nazi party would do, and Charlie because the US armed forces did not want him to. What a wonderful conclusion when the two "enemies" were finally reunited during a time of peace.
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