The Spitfires escorted 360043 to RAF Dyce. The aircraft was detected and intercepted one mile inland, whereupon the Ju 88 lowered its undercarriage, waggled its wings and dropped flares, signaling the crew's intent to surrender. This aircraft was flown to Scotland by its defecting crew in May 1943 two of the three crew on board had taken the decision to defect and held the third crewmember at gunpoint during the attempt. reforming at RAF Tangmere on the same date, with unit codes EA, as the "Enemy Aircraft Flight" of the Central Fighter Establishment, which finally disbanded in December 1945. The flight ceased operations at Collyweston on 17 January 1945. Others were shipped to America for further evaluation. Several aircraft were lost to crashes, or damaged and then cannibalized for spare parts.
They were then passed to the Air Fighting Development Unit (RAF Duxford 1940-1943) where they were extensively tested before passing them on to the Flight. The aircraft in the unit changed throughout the war as further later marques came into the RAF's hands in various ways, including capture by Allied troops, forced or mistaken landings by German pilots, and defections. A General Aircraft Monospar was also assigned to the unit for general communication tasks and collecting spare parts. The Ju 88 was a more recent British acquisition after the pilot landed at night at RAF Chivenor in the belief it was an airfield in France –the crew had made a navigational error after being deceived by a Meacon decoy, navigational radio beacons set up by the British to mimic German ones. Initially, it operated a Heinkel He 111 (AW177) that had been in British hands for two years, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 that had been captured during the Battle of France (AE479) and a Junkers Ju 88A-5 (HM509). The unit was established in November 1941 at RAF Duxford, made up of a small group of pilots who had previously been maintenance test pilots with No. The main flight testing work was carried out by the Aerodynamics Flight of the Experimental Flying Department and the Wireless & Electrical Flight (W&EF), the latter responsible for evaluation and examination of radar-equipped aircraft later in the war. Many crash-landed airframes were brought to Farnborough for examination, testing and cannibalisation of spare parts to keep other airframes in serviceable condition. The RAE facilities at Farnborough were utilized for the flight testing of German and Italian aircraft during the war. Several aircraft on charge with the RAE Farnborough section were also used by this unit. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight RAF, nicknamed "the Rafwaffe", was a Royal Air Force flight formed during the Second World War to evaluate captured enemy aircraft and demonstrate their characteristics to other Allied units.
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