Nazi pilot landed at enemy base in error
ON June 23, 1942, the RAF base in Pembrey was greeted with a rather unexpected visitor: a German Nazi pilot, waggling his wings with joy on his way to touch down.
Lufftwaffe Oberleutnant Armin Faber flew on to Welsh shores in a Focke Wulf Fw 190 aircraft, one of the best fighter jets of the war.
Victorious after shooting down a Czech Spitfire in a dogfight, the oberleutnant (the highest ranking lieutenant officer) most likely expected a pat on the back from his Nazi comrades – but little did he know, he had flown directly into the enemy’s base, which happened to be in Pembrey.
A distinguished pilot, Faber’s error was much more than a simple lapse in judgement: after engaging in a volatile air battle he became separated from his staffel (squadron) and was attacked by Czech pilot Sergeant František Trejtnar, who was flying a Spitfire.
Trejtnar fought for Britain as a volunteer after his homeland was invaded by the Nazis in 1939.
When shaking off his pursuer, Faber flew north over Devon with just one functional cannon and a dangerously low fuel gauge.
He shot down Trejtnar’s Spitfire, but Trejtnar managed to parachute out with just a shrapnel wound and broken leg.
Victorious but disorientated, the oberleutnant mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel and turned directly toward the nearest airfield base, RAF Pembrey.
The rugged shores of South Wales are not dissimilar to the shores of Brittany, after all.
After touching down at the Welsh base, things quickly took a turn for the worse.
As soon as Faber touched down, Pembrey duty pilot Sergeant Jeffreys identified the aircraft and sent his men to capture the pilot as prisoner.
Since Pembrey was a training base that was home to the RAF’s Air Gunnery School rather than an active military base, there were no real weapons to hand, so the sergeant used a flare gun to imprison him.
A National Interest article stated that Faber felt so “despondent [at this capture] that he attempted suicide”, unsuccessfully.
Faber was eventually sent to Canada as a prisoner of war, but was
repatriated before the end of the war due to ill health.
For the Allies, Faber’s error was like striking gold.
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 outperformed the Spitfire, the plane that turned the tide in our favour in the Battle of Britain in 1940, in almost every aspect.
While the Spitfire had a superior turn radius, the Fw 190 outperformed it in terms of roll rate, speed, acceleration and dive performance.
Up until this point, no intact FockeWulf Fw 190 fighter jets had been captured by the Allies and Britain was growing increasingly worried about the level of sophistication in German aviation.
In his autobiography, Squadron Leader Paul Richey stated: “We gave the Focke-Wulf the once-over; it was a beautifully-designed thing. I think it must have been the best fighter of the war.”
Faber’s plane was transported to RAF Farnborough where it was repainted and tested.
Engineers managed to recover the data from nine flying hours, which proved to be invaluable intelligence during a time when German aviation was reigning supreme.
When taken for tactical assessment, Faber’s plane also provided the RAF with insights into the best way to fight the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in combat, identifying all its points of weakness, such as low performance at high altitudes.
Analysis of the famed Focke-Wulf Fw 190 influenced the future of British aviation, and it played a crucial role in assisting the Allies’ gradual domination of the skies over northern France, leading the way for the successful D-Day invasion in 1944.