- Bert Stiles
Infobox Writer
name = Bert Stiles
caption =
birthdate = birth date|1920|8|30|mf=y
birthplace =Denver, Colorado
deathdate = death date and age|1944|11|26|1920|8|30|mf=y
deathplace =Hanover, Germany
occupation = Writer and journalist
genre =
movement =
notableworks = "Serenade to the Big Bird"
influences =|influenced =Bert Stiles (
August 30 ,1920 -November 26 ,1944 ) was an Americanauthor of short stories who waskilled in action duringWorld War II while serving as afighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces.Youth
Born in
Denver, Colorado he was the son of anelectrician , Bert Stiles, Senior, and a music teacher, Elizabeth Huddleston Stiles. He attended Denver's South High School and worked summers as a juniorforest ranger inEstes Park , both of which became sources of material for his short stories.After graduation from high school in 1938 he entered
Colorado College , with a pronounced interest in writing both stories andpoetry . He became a feature writer for the campusnewspaper , "The Tiger", expressing pacifist views in vogue at the time, and in June 1941, isolated himself in his fraternity house and produced twenty-seven short stories.Stiles mailed samples of his prose to Ruth and Max Aley, literary agents in
New York City , who expressed an interest in seeing more. Stiles left college tohitchhike to New York, was stopped twice bypolice and sent home twice, but eventually reached New York and delivered his stories in person. The Aleys employed him as ahandyman and provided him living space on their farm inConnecticut in order to mentor him in his writing. Stiles wrote ten hours a day throughout the summer of 1941 and his diligence was rewarded when his first story was accepted in September by the "Saturday Evening Post ", which eventually published the "The Ranger" series of stories based on his experiences in Estes Park. He also sold stories to "Liberty " and "The American " magazines.USAAF service
Stiles enlisted in the
U. S. Army in January 1943, became an aviation cadet, and was commissioned a second lieutenant, Air Corps, in November. He won pilot wings and was assigned to aB-17 Flying Fortress replacement crew sent to theEighth Air Force in March, 1944.Bomber co-pilot
Assigned to the 401st Bomb Squadron,
91st Bomb Group at Bassingbourn,England , he began flying missions with the crew of 2d Lt. Sam Newton onApril 19 ,1944 , with their first toKassel ,Germany . Thereafter the crew flew an average of two to three missions per week, usually on consecutive days. This pattern continued through May as the 91st attacked both strategic targets in Germany, V-1 launch sites, and targets inFrance in preparation forOperation Overlord . Their first mission againstBerlin occurredMay 7 .Newton's crew was assigned to and primarily flew B-17G-50-BO, s/n 42-102504, nicknamed "Times A-Wastin"' and carrying the
fuselage codes LL - D. The crew made one mission in another noted 91st B-17, "Shoo Shoo Baby ", onMay 25 ,1944 , to bomb Essey-les-Nancy airfield inFrance , but turned back to base early because the plane'soxygen system malfunctioned.Stiles continued to write, both highly personalized pieces for the
London "Daily Mail ", articles for "Yank" and "Air Force Magazine", and the manuscript for a book. He eventually flew twenty missions with Sam Newton's crew, and his manuscript was ajournal -stylememoir of his experiences with them. In mid-June, 1944, he was separated from Newton's crew and out of combat for a month, and when he resumed flying, he finished his 35-mission combat tour for the 91st Bomb Group with a different crew.Fighter pilot
Stiles refused an opportunity to return to the United States as a flight instructor and volunteered for a second tour with the Eighth, requesting an assignment in fighters. He completed conversion training and was assigned as a pilot with the 505th Fighter Squadron, 339th Fighter Group, a
P-51 Mustang unit stationed atFowlmere , England, about five miles distant from his previous base at Bassingbourn.On
November 26 ,1944 , on the 16th mission of his second tour, Stiles' squadron was flying at 26,000 feet altitude south ofHanover , Germany, on a bomber escort mission. Stiles was flying a P-51 nicknamed "Tar Heel", normally flown by Capt. James R. Starnes of his squadron (P-51D- s/n 44-14113). Encountering 40-60Luftwaffe FW-190 s, Stiles engaged one in combat and shot it down (Air Force Historical Study No. 85 credits Stiles with the kill), but apparently became disoriented when the dogfight descended to low altitude. His P-51 impacted the ground almost immediately, killing him. Stiles is interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery,Neupré , Liège,Belgium .Awards and decorations
*
*
*s)
"Serenade to the Big Bird"
His mother commemorated his memory by having his book published in 1947 in England (Lindsay Drummond Ltd.), with its first U.S. publication in 1952 (
W.W. Norton & Company ). Entitled "Serenade to the Big Bird", the book achieved cult status among aviation enthusiasts for its honest depictions of bomber combat and also won favorable literary reviews for its spare, Hemingway-style prose and its anti-war sensitivity. It has been re-issued periodically, the most recent in 1998.ee also
References
*Cooper, Robert F., "Serenade to the Blue Lady: The Story of Bert Stiles", Cypress House (1993). ISBN 1-879384-21-3
*Minnich, Mike, "Serenade: The Story of Lieutenant Bert Stiles," "Wings", April 1989 (Volume 19, No. 2)
* [http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/mustang/combat-reports.html Encounter reports of P-51 Mustang pilots] Numerous original 339th FG kill claim reports reproduced here that describe the aerial fight on November 26, 1944
* [http://afhra.maxwell.af.mil/numbered_studies/1039707.pdf USAF Historical Study 85: USAF Credits for Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II] 27.21 MB pdf file, Stiles listed alphabetically in first section
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.