eBay: Captured Focke Wulf Fw190

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A captured Focke Wulf Fw 190A-3 at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, with the RAE's chief test pilot, Wing Commander H J "Willie" Wilson at the controls, July 1942.

Oberleutnant Armin Faber was a Luftwaffe pilot in World War II who mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel and landed his Focke-Wulf 190 (Fw-190) intact at RAF Pembrey in south Wales. His plane was the first Fw-190 to be captured by the Allies and was tested to reveal any weaknesses that could be exploited.

In June 1942, Oberleutnant Armin Faber was Gruppen-Adjutant to the commander of the III fighter Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 2 (JG 2) based in Morlaix in Brittany. On 23 June, he was given special permission to fly a combat mission with 7th Staffel. The unit operated Focke-Wulf 190 fighters.

The FW-190 had only recently arrived with front line units at this time and its superior performance had caused the Allies so many problems that they were considering mounting a commando raid on a French airfield to capture one for evaluation.

7th Staffel was scrambled to intercept a force of twelve Bostons on their way back from a bombing mission; the Bostons were escorted by three Czech-manned RAF squadrons, 310 Squadron, 312 Squadron and 313 Squadron. A fight developed over the English Channel with the escorting Spitfires, during which Faber was attacked by Sergeant František Trejtnar (Czech) of 310 Squadron. In his efforts to shake off the Spitfire, Faber flew north over Exeter in Devon. After much high-speed manoeuvring, Faber, with only one cannon working, pulled an Immelmann turn into the sun and shot down his pursuer in a head-on attack.

Trejnar bailed out safely, although he had a shrapnel wound in his arm and sustained a broken leg on landing; his Spitfire crashed near the village of Black Dog, Devon. Meanwhile, the disorientated Faber now mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel and flew north instead of south. Thinking South Wales was France, he turned towards the nearest airfield - RAF Pembrey. Observers on the ground could not believe their eyes as Faber waggled his wings in a victory celebration, lowered the Focke-Wulf's undercarriage and landed.

The Pembrey Duty Pilot, one Sergeant Jeffreys, grabbed a Very pistol and ran from the control tower and jumped onto the wing of Faber's aircraft as it taxied in. Faber was apprehended and later taken to RAF Fairwood Common by Group Captain David Atcherley (twin brother of Richard Atcherley) for interrogation.

Faber's plane was a Fw 190A-3 with the Werknummer 313. It was the only fighter configuration to be captured intact by the Allies during the war. All other captured aircraft were either of the long range bomber or fighter bomber configuration.

Group Captain Hugh Wilson, the pilot mainly responsible for test flying captured enemy aircraft, was asked to fly 313 from RAF Pembrey to RAF Farnborough under the guarantee not to crash. This was an impossible guarantee to give, so the aircraft was dismantled and transported via lorry instead.

At Farnborough, the Fw-190 was repainted in RAF colours and given the RAF serial number MP499. Brief testing and evaluation commenced on 3rd July 1942 at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at RAF Farnborough. Roughly nine flying hours were recorded, providing the Allies with extremely valuable intelligence.

After 10 days it was transferred to the Air Fighting Development Unit at RAF Duxford for tactical assessment, where it was painted with yellow undersides and a 'P' (in a circle) for prototype, and had Faber's unit 'Cockerel' head insignia repainted back on either side of the nose. It was flown in mock combat trials against the new Spitfire Mk.IX, providing the RAF with methods to best fight the Fw 190A with their new fighter.

The Fw-190 was flown 29 times between 3 July 1942 and 29 January 1943. It was then partially dismantled and tests done on engine performance at Farnborough. It was struck off charge and scrapped in September 1943.

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Well scroll through this thread i do not know but a flyable fw190 in 1943 would have been something. Odds are there is. Perhaps not in my thread because it is a daily trawl from ebay. Perhaps fold3.com will come up with something or otherwise eBAy: Captured german planes - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
Thank you so much for your help. F/L Herbert 'Susie' Sewell (known as Scott) was a Spitfire Ace who trained under Al Deere in 54 Squadron (and remained friends). He was transferred to AFDU post-DFC and flew (and tested) a huge range of aircraft. Here's his log book from July 1943, shortly before a really nasty incident forced him into rest for a few months. You can see the 4 FW flights on 18/23/25 July 1943 which were in one of the newly-captured 190s (as flown by Johnny Checketts; an account of which appears in Peter Caygill's 'Flying to the Limit, where Scott is mentioned as being somewhat of an absent encyclopaedia on the 190!). Scott's main co-pilot (and best friend ) during this time was H Leonard Thorne. Scott's log book stops abruptly in March 1944 with only a few flights logged thereafter and signed off by himself. At this point he was sent to Dyce (probably training new pilots in the Mark XIV?) before being assigned to HQ ADGB in late March 1944. He received his AFC on 8th June 1944. By August 1945, he was at HQ Fighter Command. Given that Scott could fly a Lysander, it may be that he was assigned some interesting missions in May/June 1944. Sadly, his war records tell us none of this.
 

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Thank you very much for this info. If it is ok with you i will post it on other ( to me knowlegable ) board that may have some other info. I am sure there is something not known to you to find.
Perhaps even to search here in my thread captured fw190 end then seach faber in that thread. Who knows he might be there somewhere.
 
Thank you very much for this info. If it is ok with you i will post it on other ( to me knowlegable ) board that may have some other info. I am sure there is something not known to you to find.
Perhaps even to search here in my thread captured fw190 end then seach faber in that thread. Who knows he might be there somewhere.
Thank you, that's great. Fingers crossed.
 
Wow he flew cr 42 ( now in a museum in brittain) wellington ...Spits the lot. Must have been some pilot. Not every jock got to do that although later in war enemy aircraft were prized. Like ohh you got a 109, well.. we got a 190
 

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