Shadowing Practice: When a Bf-109 spared a stricken B-17 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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It was December 20th 1943 and in the freezing air high above Germany,
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2nd Lieutenant Charles Charlie Brown struggled to keep his mortally damaged American bomber on course.
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Brown had been wounded in the shoulder, his tail gunner Sergeant Hugh Ecke Eckenrode was dead and several other members of the crew were wounded, some severely.
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Their aircraft, B-17 Ye Olde Pub, had been hit twice by flak as it approached its target, the Focke-Wulf plant in the German city of Bremen,
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forcing the crew to shut down one of the engines and throttle back on another.
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This had left it lagging behind the main formation of aircraft from the 379th Bombardment Group, and groups of German fighters had closed in like sharks, sensing blood in the water.
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Up to 15 fighters had attacked the bomber, and the whole tail section was shot to pieces.
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The nose cone was missing.
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The electrical, hydraulic and oxygen systems were damaged.
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The radio was out and the entrails of the crippled bomber flapped in the slipstream through gaping wrecks in the fuselage.
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But B-17s are tough old birds and this one somehow kept on flying despite the damage.
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Brown blacked out for a short time due to pain, loss of blood and a lack of oxygen, and the bomber spiraled towards the ground.
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Brown came to and realized that the B-17 was only a few hundred feet above the ground.
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He somehow managed to get it back under control and turned west towards England in safety, 250 miles away.
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Brown wasn't able to coax the B-17 much above 1,000 feet, and he was vaguely aware that he had passed close to the perimeter of a German airfield.
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Soon after he realized that a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 was flying in close formation beside him.
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It was so close that Brown could see the German pilot as he gestured towards the ground, telling Brown to set the bomber down.
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Most of the B-17's gunners were wounded.
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Only a few guns were still working and none were able to shoot at the enemy fighter alongside.
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Brown could only look on at the German pilot and shake his head.
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For a short time the Messerschmitt flew beside the bomber.
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Then it slid away above and behind.
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Brown waited for the gunfire that must mean the end of the old pub. But nothing happened.
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He realized to his astonishment that the German fighter was flying escort on the B-17.
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As they crossed the coastline and flew out over the North Sea, the fighter remained on station.
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Only when they were well out from the German coast did the fighter slide in again close to the bomber.
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Brown looked across and the German pilot looked back at him, raised a gloved hand in salute and then swung his aircraft away back towards the east.
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Brown managed to put Ye Olde Pub on the ground, not at their home base in Cambridgeshire, but at an air base of the 448th Bomb Group near Norfolk and East Anglia.
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He and all his crew, other than the tail gunner, survived.
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At debriefing, Brown told his story about the German fighter which escorted him.
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It was decided that this should be kept secret.
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The notion of an honorable German pilot choosing not to shoot
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down a damaged American bomber just didn't fit with the message that the US Air Force wanted to give out.
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Charlie Brown survived the war, went home to go to college and then rejoined the Air Force in 1949.
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He served until 1965 when he retired as a colonel.
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It wasn't until much later, in 1986, at a meeting of retired combat pilots called gathering of the Eagles, that he first spoke about what had happened.
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The response was strong, though some questioned whether the whole incident really happened.
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Even Brown began to wonder.
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His memories of that day in 1943 were hazy due to his injuries, exhaustion and the stress of combat.
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Could he be remembering it all wrong?
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Brown decided that he was going to find the German pilot involved, if only to prove that he hadn't imagined the whole thing.
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It took four years, But in 1990, Brown finally received a letter from a man named Stigler, who was living in Canada.
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Stigler explained that he had been the pilot of the German fighter who had escorted Ye Olde Pub.
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On December 20, 1943, Franz Stigler had been a 27-kill veteran pilot.
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He had flown against American bombers in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G6 that morning, and he was refueling on the ground when Ye Olde Pub passed close by.
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He took off intending to shoot down the American bomber.
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However, as he closed with the limping aircraft, he could see just how badly it had been hit.
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He would later say that he had never seen a more severely damaged aircraft still flying.
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Stigler's commander had told his pilots never to fire an enemy who was descending on a parachute.
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While the crew of the old pub hadn't bailed out, they were clearly no longer capable of fighting and Stigler decided that he could not bring himself to attack.
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Instead he flew alongside and gestured to Brown to land.
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He just simply couldn't imagine that the crippled aircraft could possibly make it back to England.
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When Brown refused, Stigler made an extraordinary decision.
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Instead of shooting it down, he flew close formation with the B-17, hoping that this would deter flak batteries on the coast from firing at it.
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He flew with the bomber well out over the North Sea until it was clear of German airspace
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and then left it to continue towards England.
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Stigler never told anyone about what had happened.
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Sparing an American bomber would likely have led to punishment and perhaps even execution, but he often wondered if it had made it back to base.
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Stigler continued flying fighters throughout the war.
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In 1953 he emigrated from Germany to Canada where he started a successful business.
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When he heard from Charlie Brown in 1990, Stigler confirmed every aspect of his story.
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Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown were astonished to discover
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that they had been living less than 200 miles apart for much of the time since the war.
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Stigler had settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, while Brown was in Seattle, Washington.
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In the latter years, the two men remained close friends, often visiting and talking to other flyers about their shared experiences.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “When a Bf-109 spared a stricken B-17”. Las palabras que más se repiten: Brown, German, bomber, Stigler, fighter. Este vídeo tiene 66 frases y 1070 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 5:51. El hablante habla rápido, unas 183 palabras por minuto, así que espera sonidos enlazados y reducidos. Solo el 79 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés, por lo que el vocabulario es exigente.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| bomber sustantivo | /ˈbɑmɚ/ | bombardero |
| escort sustantivo | /ˈɛs.kɔɹt/ | escolta |
| flak sustantivo | /flæk/ | fuego antiaéreo |
| gesture sustantivo | /ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɚ/ | gesto, ademán |
| retire verbo | /ɹəˈtaɪɹ/ | jubilar |
| severely adverbio | severamente | |
| airfield sustantivo | aeródromo, aeroparque | |
| airspace sustantivo | espacio aéreo | |
| astonish verbo | /əˈstɑnɪʃ/ | asombrar, sorprender |
| astonishment sustantivo | /əˈstɑːnɪʃmənt/ | asombro, estupefacción |
| emigrate verbo | /ˈɛmɪɡɹeɪt/ | emigrar |
| exhaustion sustantivo | /ɪɡˈzɔːs.t͡ʃən/ | agotamiento |
| fuselage sustantivo | /ˈfjuːzəˌlɑːʒ/ | fuselaje |
| refuel verbo | /ɹiːˈfjuːəl/ | repostar, llenar el tanque |
| slipstream sustantivo | /ˈslɪp.stɹiːm/ | rebufo, cono de aspiración |
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
| Palabra | Significado |
|---|---|
| bail out verbo | pagar la fianza |
| shut down verbo | apagar |
| take off verbo | quitarse |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 6 contracciones y formas reducidas, como hadn't, wasn't, couldn't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: astonish /əˈstɑnɪʃ/, astonishment /əˈstɑːnɪʃmənt/, fuselage /ˈfjuːzəˌlɑːʒ/, parachute /ˈpæɹəʃut/, notion /ˈnoʊʃən/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: astonishment /əˈstɑːnɪʃmənt/, perimeter /pɪˈɹɪm.ɪ.tə/
Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:
- s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: slipstream /ˈslɪp.stɹiːm/, spiral /ˈspaɪɹəl/
- /v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: vaguely /ˈveɪɡli/, glove /ɡlʌv/
- /z/ — sonora, no /s/: exhaustion /ɪɡˈzɔːs.t͡ʃən/, fuselage /ˈfjuːzəˌlɑːʒ/, freeze /ˈfɹiːz/
Cómo practicar con este vídeo
- Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
- Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
- Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como bomber, escort, flak.
¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.