I'm sure many of us have read about this story before, and it is a good one. However, what Kazaa said struck me. What if the situation were reversed? What if some Spitfire or Hurricane pilot had allowed a severely damaged He-111 to lumber back to France after bombing an English city? Stigler seems to have received a lot of praise for his action. What would we think of an RAF pilot who did the same?
I can't honestly say I would reach the same conclusion in each case (whether it's praise or condemnation), but I feel like I ought to.
My impression is Stigler didn't comment on the event during the war. I'm sure he would have recieved criticism for allowing a crew to survive that could come back and bomb Germany the next day,
The situation was unique in that Stigler had time to think about it. He wasn't getting shot at. The 17 was barely in the air with obvious damage. Who knows what both Stigler and the bomber crew had experienced prior to their encounter that day. It could be in that moment there was a mutual recogniton that there had been enough death and destruction that day and at that point all that mattered was surviving for both the 109 pilot and the B17 crew, We're not talking criminals here or sociopaths. These are average men being asked to do things that no one should have to do.
It's their own christmas truce such as was done in WW1. This is silly, we're more alike then different, why are we killing each other. Of course the powers that be have a greater interest in continuing the conflict and discourage this kind of rational thinking.
not something to be promoted by those who believe in war of course
