The Fate of Arnim Faber

Does anyone know the fate of Arnim Faber, the Luftwaffe pilot who mistakenly landed his Fw190 in England giving the RAF their first look at the type.

Keith, I’m not sure your geography is any better than Armin Faber’s. I think you’ll find that he landed in Wales not England, at least that’s where Pembrey was last time I was there.

The spring 1993 edition of the Spitfire Society’s journal – DCO – has an article written by Len Thorne. Len was attached to AFDU and he was giving his views on flying an FW190 A/3 (RAF serial PM679) after it had mistakenly landed at RAF Manston on June 20th 1943. He says the engine always seemed to be harsh and felt rough. Nevertheless he did perform nearly 70 flights in it. Although this is not the same aircraft as the Forum enquirer refers it still makes for an interesting read.

He goes on to say that on March 19th 1944 “the electrically operated constant speed had a fault resulting in total engine failure” He put it down in a field and the powers that be greater than he decided to end their work with it. However it was retrieved and returned to flying condition and lodged with No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight at Colleyweston. Flt Lt. Lewendon was killed in it when it crashed into a garden of a house during the final approach to Collyweston shortly after it commenced flying again.

Len was constantly on to call to provide demonstration flights to a variety of military units around the UK. On one occasion he called in at RAF Benson, met up with the AOC of PRU at that time. He took Air Commodore John Boothman for a tour around the cockpit and with permission already granted by the Air Ministry Boothman flew it for a short period. In return Len was invited to ‘try out’ any of the specialist PRU aircraft available at that time.

Len died , I recall, in 2008. He was also acting, in minor way, with FlugWerk in Berlin offering some assistance them. In his non RAF life he was a specialist ‘metals’ man working for High Duty Alloys at Slough. I did have the pleasure of introducing him to Wille Lindsay at a Southampton air show in 2000. Willie was then the last Spitfire float-plane pilot still alive. Dr. Gordon Mitchell’s (son of RJ) joined in the conversation and when I was called away the shouts of noisy laughter from that trio was something else! No doubt Willie was talking about the PINK He111 his Flight had pinched from a German airfield after the Luftwaffe left in a hurry! Just think about using it to fly to Cairo as a truck to carry liquid nourishment back to the thirsty troops in the Western Desert! But alas all three of those gentlemen are no longer with us.

I gather that the He111 was in use for some time until a American General said he wanted it. Willie said he cheekily asked what aircraft he would get in return ….the General offered a new B25 with only delivery mileage on the clock!

There was a myth in some quarters that he wasn’t lost at all but defected. It was even suggested that he had a Scottish grandmother. I cannot remember where I read this. Might have been an old RAF Flying Review. Rubbish no doubt.

What happened to the ‘190?

Strangely, I was in a boozer last Saturday in Devonshire (The London Inn at Morchard Bishop.) and they have some fragments of a Spit’ that Faber shot down that day (I think the pilot was a Czech and got out OK.)

F/Sgt František Trejtnar, 310 sqn. It seems he was slightly injured in the shootdown, & broke a leg on landing, but healed up. According to a Czech veterans site, while he was in hospital he & Faber exchanged messages, but they never met. He thanked Faber for not killing him (Faber came back for another go, saw that he’d bailed out, & turned away). Faber wished him a full recovery. Faber had been sent to a PoW camp in Canada by the time Trejtnar got out of hospital. Trejtnar returned to Czechoslovakia after the war & died in Brno in 1982 aged 65. He kept his logbook, & his widow allowed a Czech writer to borrow it, & I think his account is well documented. It was published in Czech aviation magazines a couple of times before the internet, including 50 years after the event.

Name it after an enemy pilot…..:confused: I dont think so somehow!!

😉 Ironically by doing what he did (albeit involuntary] he may have saved a few allied lives,
1,He was out of the battle so couldn’t shoot anyone else down,
2,The secrets that his plane may have given up to the allies.

I personally think that naming something after him would seem more of a pee take against him than a positive credit.

Faberplatz….Mmmmm..could be…jawohl mein heir..

Name it after an enemy pilot…..:confused: I dont think so somehow!!

And why not exactly? Seems like a practical sensible suggestion…….heard many worse.

Planemike

Funny you should mention Faber…

Strangely, I was in a boozer last Saturday in Devonshire (The London Inn at Morchard Bishop.) and they have some fragments of a Spit’ that Faber shot down that day (I think the pilot was a Czech and got out OK.) in a case on the wall. Faber seems to have, in the heat of the moment, flown the reciprocal, and mistaken the Bristol Channel, for the English Channel. Having flown that route many times it’s feasable, especially in the heat of war. Many other pilots did this, quite easy when using some compasses, like our early aperiodic types.

Part of Pembrey was used for model flying, part for motor racing, and part was reactivated as an a/d some years ago. The Welsh Development Agency spent a mint, but when I used to use it, one didn’t normally see any other a/c at all…! Pity, as the runway was like a baby’s bum. 🙂 I don’t recall any of the original building being left, except fo one of those concrete domes the gunners used to use to practice.

Name it after an enemy pilot…..:confused: I dont think so somehow!!

I always thought that it would have been a nice gesture if the owners of Pembrey racing circuit had named one of the features of the track after him …

My pal, Chris Goss, has just written an article about Faber and his 190 but I cannot recall if it is for FlyPast or Britain at War and know he was in touch with him, but I’m pretty sure he has since died. I also have access to the technical report on his 190.

Keith, I found a reference to Armin Faber visiting the Shoreham Museum and donating some personal items in 1991 – apparently the article is reproduced from the June 1986 issue of Flypast.

Link: http://fcafa.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/unintentional-gift/