Armin Faber—Where the Focke-Wulf am I?

23 June 1942

(read time: 2 mins.)

Armin Faber was an Oberleutnant in the German Luftwaffe and a Focke-Wulf pilot. He had clocked up many hundreds of hours flying as an instructor before his posting to Morlaix in Brittany.

​In Brittany, he was flying the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, regarded then as one of the finest fighter planes in the War. The Luftwaffe pilots had faith in the Focke-Wulf; it handled well — particularly at low altitudes —and was heavily armed. As such, it proved a match for the Spitfire V in low-altitude confrontations. ​

There were many other technical and performance details of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 about which the Germans were keen to keep schtum (before you lambast me for drifting into slang, 'schtum' is derived from the German word ’stumm’ meaning mute or silent so I reckon that’s OK?).

Nations would go to great lengths to keep the latest design features of their aircraft secret from their enemies, so little was known about the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. But, with a little help from Oberleutnant Armin Faber, that was about to change. ​

At some point on the 23rd of June, Faber’s unit was scrambled to confront six Boston bombers and their escorts returning over the English Channel from a sortie in Germany. The dogfight was intense, and Faber was separated from his squadron during one particular encounter with a Spitfire.

The duel continued across Exeter in Devon until, eventually, Faber shot down the dogged Spitfire. ​

Exhausted and running low on fuel, Armin urgently needed a landing point. He looked down at the English Channel, aimed for the French coast and safely landed at the first available airstrip. ​

Southwest England: Bristol Channel and English Channel.

There was, however, one problem. Faber had mistaken the Bristol Channel for the English Channel so instead of landing at a German-occupied airstrip on the north coast of France, he had inadvertently put down at RAF Pembrey in South Wales. He climbed out of his cockpit, ready for his warm welcome, only to be confronted by the duty pilot, Sergeant Jeffreys, armed only with a flare gun. ​

Armin Faber's Focke-Wulf

Faber’s error provided the RAF with a fully intact Focke-Wulf Fw 190, allowing them unprecedented access to the machine. This directly led to changes in British fighter plane design that were pivotal in the success of the D-Day landings.

​As a footnote, Armin Faber visited his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 at the Shoreham Aircraft Museum in Kent in 1991, where he also saw the remains of the Spitfire he shot down that day.

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