Franz was credited with 28 confirmed victories and over thirty probables. He flew 487 combat missions, was wounded four times, and was shot down seventeen times, four by enemy fighters, four by ground fire, and nine times by gunners on American bombers. He bailed out six times and rode his damaged aircraft down eleven times.

I sometimes hesitate to recommend certain books because they can be a chore to read. Adam Makos books are different. They read like novels and they always start out painless, maintain the reader’s interest and end with a reunion of the combatants. It is recipe for success. Pond, Neil (May 5, 2013). " 'Voices of the Pacific' Book Review". American Profile. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022 . Retrieved November 21, 2022. Of the twenty-eight thousand German fighter pilots to see combat in WWII, only twelve hundred survived the war.” Voices of the Pacific: untold stories from the Marine heroes of World War II. Berkley Books. 2013. ISBN 9780425257821. Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author of Devil in the White City, delivers a remarkable story set during Hitler’s rise to power.

Production: What we know about A Higher Call?

December, 1943: A badly damaged American bomber struggles to fly over wartime Germany. At the controls is twenty-one-year-old Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown. Half his crew lay wounded or dead on this, their first mission. Suddenly, a Messerschmitt fighter pulls up on the bomber’s tail. The pilot is German ace Franz Stigler—and he can destroy the young American crew with the squeeze of a trigger… According to A Higher Call, Stigler was a German fighter pilot credited with shooting down 45 allied aircraft during his 400-plus combat missions. He probably killed more than a hundred enemy airmen and continued to fly missions up until the very end of the war. He advanced in rank from corporal to first lieutenant in the span of his three years of service. This was a person who, at best, was fully committed to the killing that was required of a German fighter pilot; or at worst, was fully indoctrinated into the Nazi Party. Switch between reading the Kindle book & listening to the Audible audiobook with Whispersync for Voice. Charlie and his crew know they are done when they see the plane. The German pilot keeps making a motion to them they don’t understand.

Stiglerは，もとは戦前はルフトハンザの旅客機のパイロットで，志願して空軍に入り，下士官から苦労してたたき上げた経歴の持ち主で，その目からみたドイツ空軍の内情が詳述されている．特に興味深いのは，ドイツ空軍のパイロットの多くはナチ党員ではなく，ナチとのたゆまざる確執があったこと，特に連合国軍のドイツ爆撃による被害拡大後は，空軍のトップのゲーリングが防衛に当たる戦闘機パイロットを執拗に責め立てたという点である．連合国軍の圧倒的物量の前に，追い詰められてゆくドイツ空軍の悲哀は日本軍のそれに重なる．また大戦末期，ドイツ軍はジェット戦闘機を開発して実戦に投入したが，未完成のため事故が多く，戦果を挙げられないままに敗戦を迎えた様子も描かれている．Four days before Christmas in 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a twenty-one-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay wounded or dead. It was their first mission. Suddenly a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bomber’s tail—a German Messerschmitt fighter. Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber with the squeeze of a trigger. What happened next would defy imagination and later be called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II. HistoryRider wrote:It was a FANTASTIC book and a fascinating read!!!! I can't wait to see this build!!!

El suceso protagonista del libro es impactante tanto cuando ocurre, como los hechos que le suceden tras la guerra. Novak, Steve (February 23, 2019). "A tank rolled down the streets of Allentown, an homage to a 95-year-old World War II hero". lehighvalleylive.com . Retrieved February 28, 2019. a b "Meet the Author: Adam Makos". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022 . Retrieved November 21, 2022. Can good men be found on both sides of a bad war?’ The author asks the question and delivers the answer. A powerful, haunting read.” El autor del libro es un periodista norteamericano especializado en temas militares que, de forma casual, conoció esta bonita historia y enseguida supo que tenía un libro entre manos. Entrevistó en numerosas ocasiones a ambos pilotos, reunió información en archivos, reconstruyó sus respectivas biografías y el resultado es este libro.

Success!

Many years after the end of the war, both Brown and Stigler wondered what had become of one another. Neither knew the other's name, yet neither had forgotten that strange encounter in the skies over Germany. Eventually they would have their reunion and become brothers not of shared blood, but of shared life. Notably, though fifty years had passed since the end of WWII, once this story became public, Franz Stigler began receiving hate mail, presumably from Germans who felt that he should have blown Charlie and his crew out of the sky. I guess hatred is in no danger of becoming extinct any time soon. Vatican’s secretly composed message to all of Germany’s Catholics. On Palm Sunday, 1937, the letter had been read by every priest, bishop, and cardinal across Germany to their congregations and three hundred thousand copies had been disseminated. Drafted by Munich’s Cardinal von Faulhaber and Pope Pius XI, it told German Catholics in carefully veiled terms that National Socialism was an evil religion based on racism that stood contrary to the church’s teachings and every man’s right to equality. It made reference to “an insane and arrogant prophet” without naming Hitler.” A Higher Call is an incredible account of gallantry that is nothing short of miraculous.