Why a FW 190 Really Landed in Wales in 1942

Previous Theories

On June 23rd, 1942, German Luftwaffe pilot Armin Faber found himself over the coast of the southwest of England. There are several versions of the story of why he did it.

First, he was just incredibly stupid and landed in the wrong country by mistake. He was incredibly disoriented and he thought he landed in an airfield in France. But the problem here is that he flew north instead of south.

Version two of the story is him defecting to the Allies. But the problem with this version is that Faber later faked epilepsy to be repatriated back to Germany. If he really defected, then he wouldn’t have done so.

Another Version of the Story

According to YouTuber Phil from Caliban Rising, he happened to have a chance encounter with Geoff Nutkins, a prolific aviation artist who pretty much knows and is friendly with a lot of pilots from the RAF and the Luftwaffe.

Nutkins knew Faber quite well. In fact, he was his friend. Nutkins told Phil that Faber had gotten lost.

Weather Reports

But according to weather reports that day, there were to be a slight ground haze and isolated thunderstorms.  Faber could be dodging around the cloud as well.

That means that he positioned himself to the south of the English coast when in fact he was on the north coast of Devon and that’s why he flew north.

But why did he land? Well, Faber, having experienced several flying accidents before, didn’t want to risk jumping out. So, contrary to the orders that were given to him, he decided to land to save his life and not risk jumping out.