Hi all, I'm extremely new to this field and I'm not sure which forum is the correct place to post. I'm doing research for a novel, and I'm curious if anyone has any ideas - can you think of any reason at all why an RAF bomber, having gone missing on the way back from a run to Europe, could later be found on Irish soil? Any reason why a pilot might have taken an unauthorized flight in that direction, for example? I would appreciate any and all speculation and theories. Thank you so much!
More than a few RAF pilots ended up in Ireland unintentionally. Forget his name but one escaped and I believe was sent back after escaping or maybe returned himself. A number of German s found themselves there as well. Were put into POW camps. The reasons I can think of, navigational errors, equipment damage, rain, hail, sleet, and snow, darkness, etc, compounded by nav failures humans or equipment. A damaged plane returning , pilot(s) incapacitated as might be backups.. Probably a combination of things. After, say 70 missions, a pilot under extreme stress. Perhaps a JU88 in pursuit of a returning bomber forced it into Irish air space. Some of this is a stretch but it is a novel. I highly recommend the Novel, "Bomber" by Len Deighton. It does not deal with your issue but it is incredibly insightful and RAF bomber missions. It is full of technical information and tacks place in a long day. Deighton also wrote "Fighter" a technical history about the Me 109 and the Spitfire. He was a historical and novelist. I also suggest "Night Fighters over Germany" an insight into the dangers and difficulties of Beaufighters as night fighters over enemy territory. It takes you through what air combat at night was like and you'd inform one about finding a home, where ever that might be.
It was possible to miss whole countries and seas. The crew of B24 "Lady be Good" perished when they missed their airfield returning to Libya from Italy and died in the Sahara. A German pilot mistook the Bristol channel for the English Channel and landed his new FW190 in Britain thinking he was in France. it was also easy for an idiot to set the compass incorrectly and fly on a reciprocal course. https://www.aeromedsocaustralasia.org/img.ashx?f=f&p=christchurch_2010/Aviation+Safety+-+Peter+Hurly.pdf
All kinds of reasons...See Foreign Aircraft in Ireland 1939 - 1945 For details on aircraft that crashed/landed there during WW2.
Yes many reasons, the one main or most common would be fog...can't see. Even today pilots will tell you, one good look out your window can make-up for a bank of read-outs.
I would think the low flying time was a big problem. Thinking how Young pilots were sent flying bombers from the US to the UK and never seen again tells alot. Not just making bombing flights from Germany to a certain field in the UK. Just my thought.