Book Review: A Higher Call

by Adam Makos, Larry Alexander               

An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II.

A Higher Call was an excellent read. Even though it's not all about the flying you still can't put this one down. A Higher Call tells the story of two men, Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown, each on a separate path in life until their paths crossed due to World War II.

Charlie Brown was a young pilot of a B17 that was damaged and now a 'straggler' fighting its way back to England. This first mission crew was gravely injured, one member dead and its plane trying to maintain altitude and airspeed.

www.militarymodelling.com 

The German Ace, Franz Stigler had landed, refueled, and loaded ammo wanting to get back in the air to knock out as many 'four motors' (B17's) as possible. Franz has the crippled B17 in his sights when he looks through the damaged aircraft and into the eyes of the terrified and injured crew. Instead of finishing them off he choose to escort them out of German territory and pointed toward safety. Stigler made the decision risking a sentence of treason and the firing squad if he were caught.

 nation.time.com 

A Higher Call is the true story of a chance encounter between enemies. It's a glimpse into the experiences and camaraderie of German pilots during the war, showing them not just as Nazis, and some of them were not, but men who wanted to fly and defend their homeland.

Thanks to Frank (N631S Blog) for the heads up on this great read!