Pilot Accidentally Lands in Enemy Airfield and Other Historic Mistakes

Pilot Accidentally Lands in Enemy Airfield and Other Historic Mistakes

Khalid Elhassan - October 5, 2020

Pilot Accidentally Lands in Enemy Airfield and Other Historic Mistakes
Armin Faber’s home base, Morlaix in Brittany, and RAF Pembrey in Britain, where he landed. Square Space

34. Oops – Wrong Way

Armin Faber and his fellow Germans got the better of the Spitfires, shooting down seven for the loss of only two Fw 190s. During the fight, Faber a Spitfire got on Faber’s tail. To shake it off, he flew north, and ended up over Devon, in England. Eventually, Faber managed to turn on and shoot down the pursuing fighter. By then, he was close to the Bristol Channel, north of Devon and separating it from Wales.

Faber was thoroughly disoriented by his narrow escape from the Spitfire. He mistook the Bristol Channel separating Devon from Wales for the English Channel separating England from France. He also mistook north for south. Instead of flying south across the English Channel towards France, he flew north across the Bristol Channel to Wales. That was not even his biggest oops of the day.

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