🇺🇲 WWII uncovered: Earl L. Stier of the 84th Fighter Squadron, 78th Fighter Group.

 🇺🇲 WWII uncovered: Earl L. Stier of the 84th Fighter Squadron, 78th Fighter Group.

On February 3, 1945 First Lieutenant Earl L. Stier of the 84th Fighter Squadron, 78th Fighter Group, was involved in supporting a mission to Berlin and then went down to strafe Luneburg Airfield.

After shooting up two enemy aircraft he flew his crippled and almost tail-less Mustang 450 miles across enemy territory and the North Sea, and landed safely back at Duxford in an exhibition of flying skill which won him the praise of other pilots.

Originally published in the West Bend Pilot, March 8, 1945: 

AN EIGHTH AIR FORCE FIGHTER STATION, England....

After destroying two German planes recently while strafing a German airdrome, First Lieutenant Earl L. Stier, 22, of 213 Fifth Av., West Bend, Wis., flew his crippled and almost tail-less P-51 Mustang, "Bum Steer" 450 miles across hostile territory and the North Sea and landed safely in England in an exhibition of flying skill that won him the praise of fellow pilots at his Eighth Air Force station.

The action occurred after Lt. Stier had helped convoy more than 1000 B-17 Flying Fortresses on their devastating attack on the heart of Berlin. 

He flies with the 78th Fighter Group, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Olin E. Gilbert of Collinsville, Ill. 

After seeing the Forts unload their bombs on the German capital, pilots of the group strafed an airfield at Luneburg and trains in other parts of western Germany.

They left 15 German planes burning and damaged 1 other on the field, and destroyed five locomotives and seven oil cars.

"I had just finished shooting up eight box cars," Lt. Stier said, "when we sighted the airdrome, filled with parked planes.

I attacked from out of the sun, and on my first run over the field saw bullets smash into a Focke Wulf 190. 

It started burning, and just as I pulled up over it I sprayed German gunners shooting at our pilots from the edge of a woods.

"Airplanes were now burning all over the field, and on my second run I picked out a Me 410 (a twin-engine fighter-bomber) partly hidden in the woods.

It hit it all right, but just after passing over it, felt a jar which shook the stick from my hand. My wing scraped a tree, but I managed to pull up.

 I looked back and saw the main spar of the tail sticking up with jagged pieces of metal behind it. The Me410 which I had hit was burning.Lt. Stier could not see the full damage from his seat. 

Practically the entire rudder had been blown off by a direct hit from a 20-millimeter shell. 

He prepared to bail out, but heard the voice of a fellow pilot reassuring him over the radio.

In reply to his question about damage, the other pilot's reply was, "Get home, Get Home."

The two hour and fifteen-minute flight to England was a series of corkscrews through the air, with the plane trying to fall off on the left wing, and Lt. Stier battling to keep it on an even keel. 

When he arrived over his home airfield, his squadron commander gave him the choice of bailing out or attempting to land.

By his decision, he saved a valuable fighter which is now flying over Germany again.

Some 300 pilots and ground crewmen crowded around the edge of the field to watch the Mustang land.

It hit hard once and bounced, then settled safely. Lt. Stier, who had previously shot down a Me 109 and damaged a FW 190 in aerial combat, wears the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, each cluster being equal to another Air Medal. 

After the war Earl became owner and operator of the West Bend Airport in West Bend, Wisconsin. 

First Lieutenant Earl L. Stier passed away in 1993. Lest We Forget.