Historic Military Blunders that Will Make You Feel Better About Your Own Mistakes

The RAF Was Grateful for This Enemy Pilot’s Blunder

When Armin Faber crossed the Bristol Channel into Wales, he thought that he had crossed the English Channel and was back over France. He turned towards the nearest airfield, RAF Pembrey, and performed a victory roll to celebrate his aerial victory. Then he lowered his wheels and smoothly landed in front of astonished British observers. Pembrey’s duty pilot, a Flight Sergeant Jeffreys, grabbed the only weapon at hand, a flare pistol, jumped on the Fw 190’s wing as Faber taxied to a stop, and took the German pilot prisoner.

When he realized just how big a blunder he had committed, a despondent Faber unsuccessfully tried to kill himself. He ended up in a POW camp in Canada. The RAF took full advantage of the airplane that Faber had gifted them – the only Fw 190 fighter captured intact by the Allies during the war. It was flown by British pilots, and thoroughly evaluated to examine its strengths and weaknesses. The results gave the Allies valuable intelligence on how to best counter the enemy fighter that had troubled them for so long.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Air Force Magazine, November 1995 – The Son Tay Raid

American Battlefield Trust – Battle of Chancellorsville Facts & Summary

Bellamy, Chris – Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War (2007)

Bradford, Ernle – The Story of the Mary Rose (1982)

British Battles – Battle of Agincourt

Catton, Bruce – Bruce Catton’s Civil War: Three Volumes in One (1984)

Catton, Bruce – Mr. Lincoln’s Army (1951)

Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust – Battle of Medway

Clark, Alan – Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941-45 (1965)

Cracked – 3 Idiotic Military Blunders That Lost Battles Before they Started