"The Shepherd" by Frederick Forsyth is the story of a flight from Germany to England undertaken by a young Vampire pilot one Christmas Eve.
Over the North Sea, his radios and compass fail. Running out of fuel, the pilot desperately flies triangles in the hope that a radar station will spot him and send an aeroplane to help him. The aeroplane that arrives to guide him to safety isn't quite what the young pilot expected... (and it isn't a Spitfire, BTW)
One of my favourite aviation stories.