*** Youtube/Video thread ***

I was watching a video on the unit in the RAF that flew enemy planes in WW2 (nicknamed "RAFwaffe" for obvious reasons) and there was a reference in it to Luftwaffe pilots landing at RAF bases in the UK by mistake. I thought that was weird - how could someone make such a mistake? So I watched another video about an unusual day in which 4 Luftwaffe planes were landed at the same RAF base by mistake, seperately. Mark Felton again - a very good channel if you want short videos on WW2, especially about lesser known incidents.

The answer to my question was in there - after getting lost in fighting, they headed in the right direction but mistook the Thames estuary for the channel. It's wide enough for the mistake to not be silly. So they thought Kent was France, searched for an airbase and landed on it. Surprise all round.
 
Angilion said:
The answer to my question was in there - after getting lost in fighting, they headed in the right direction but mistook the Thames estuary for the channel. It's wide enough for the mistake to not be silly. So they thought Kent was France, searched for an airbase and landed on it. Surprise all round.
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Why didn't the bases shoot them ? I know there was accounts of Japanese pilots mistaking US cv's for their own and attempting to land on them but they actually shot at them so they quickly got the message


I wonder how much total concrete and steel the Nazi's used during their reign to build all their defensive lines
 
Minusorange said:
Why didn't the bases shoot them ? I know there was accounts of Japanese pilots mistaking US cv's for their own and attempting to land on them but they actually shot at them so they quickly got the message [..]
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That wasn't mentioned. Maybe it wasn't anticipated that anyone of the Luftwaffe could make that mistake, so there weren't any plans for it. Maybe it was anticipated and the plan was to not shoot them unless necessary. There was an organised and sustained effort to acquire enemy military hardware, especially planes. The pace of development in planes in WW2 was extraordinary and any advantage was valuable. Studying enemy planes might yield an advantage, either in faster improvement in your own planes or in discovering any weaknesses of enemy planes. Any captured bits of wrecked enemy planes were shipped to specialists in the UK for study. An intact, undamaged and fully functional enemy plane would be a valuable prize.
 
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