Photos Military Art
- Thread starter The Hood
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Closeup of artwork "In the Presence of My Enemy" by John D. Shaw
December 20, 1943. Near the coast of Germany... German ace Franz Stigler had never seen a B-17 bomber this damaged. My God, how are you still flying? he thought. Inside the bomber's cockpit, the rookie American pilot, Charlie Brown, was thinking the same thing. An air battle had shredded his bomber. Leaning forward to check an engine, a sight made Charlie's heart skip. There, three feet from his wingtip flew a grey Bf-109. Charlie closed his eyes and opened them but the German was still there. He's going to destroy us, Charlie concluded. Instead, Franz did something incredible-- he nodded to Charlie. In the presence of his enemy, Franz had changed. He had only become a fighter pilot to avenge his brother, a pilot killed early in the war. But there, alongside the defenceless B-17, Franz decided to break the cycle of violence, to spare the bomber and escort it out of Germany. It was a gesture Charlie would never forget. In his old age, he would search the world for Franz and in 1990 they would reunite, not as former enemies, but as brothers separated for 46 years.
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