Stiles, Bert.

Stiles, Bert, born 30-08-1920 in Denver, Colorado, was the son of an electrician, Bert Stiles, Senior, and a music teacher, Elizabeth Huddleston Stiles. He attended Denver’s South High School and worked summers as a junior forest ranger in Estes 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 and poetry. He became a feature writer for the campus newspaper, 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 to hitchhike to New York, was stopped twice by police and sent home twice, but eventually reached New York and delivered his stories in person. The Aleys employed him as a handyman and provided him living space on their farm in Connecticut 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 Ranger” series of stories based on his experiences in Estes Park. He also sold stories to Liberty and The American magazines. Stiles enlisted in the United States 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 a B-17 Flying Fortress replacement crew sent to the Eighth Air Force in March 1944. Assigned to the 401^st Bomb Squadron , 91^st Bomb Group at Bassingbourn, England, he began flying missions with the crew of 2^nd Lieutenant Sam Newton on 19-04-1944, with their first to Kassel, Germany. Sam Newton died age 87, on 21-07-2008. Thereafter the crew flew an average of two to three missions per week, usually on consecutive days. This pattern continued through May as the 91^st attacked both strategic targets in Germany, V-1 launch sites, and targets in France in preparation for Operation Overlord. Their first mission against Berlin occurred May 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 91^st B-17, Shoo Shoo Baby , on 25-05-1944, to bomb Essey-les-Nancy airfield in France, but turned back to base early because the plane’s oxygen 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 a journal-style memoir 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.  P-51 Mustangs of the 505^th Fighter Squadron. 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 505^th Fighter Squadron, 339^th Fighter Group, a P-51 Mustang unit stationed at Fowlmere, England, about five miles distant from his previous base at Bassingbourn. On 26-11-1944, on the 16^th mission of his second tour, Stiles’ squadron was flying at 26.000 feet altitude south of Hanover, Germany, on a bomber escort mission. Stiles was flying a P-51 nicknamed “Tar Heel”, normally flown by Captain James R. “Jim” Starnes of his squadron. Jim Starnes died on 04-09-2010, age 86

Death and burial ground of Stiles, Bert.

  Encountering 40-60 Luftwaffe FW-190s, 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, age 24. Stiles is buried at the Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupré, Liège, Belgium.