A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II

In December 1943, Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown flew a crippled B-17 bomber over Germany, its fuselage shredded and half its crew wounded. Franz Stigler, a veteran Luftwaffe ace one kill away from earning the Knight’s Cross, intercepted the American plane. Instead of firing, Stigler escorted the defenseless bomber to the North Sea, risking a court-martial for treason. Adam Makos traces the parallel lives of both men, documenting Stigler’s disillusionment with the Nazi regime and Brown’s struggle to bring his men home, eventually depicting their reunion decades after the encounter.

Military history enthusiasts and readers interested in aviation tactics find a technical account of aerial dogfights and bomber formations. The book provides a detailed look at the internal culture of the Luftwaffe and the psychological pressures of the air war. Readers walk away with a specific case study of individual ethics overriding military orders during total war. The narrative replaces abstract concepts of honor with a concrete example of how two enemies navigated the moral hazards of the cockpit through a singular act of restraint.

Outward-looking and clear-cut; an easy read.

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