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Sieg 01

Event ID: 127

17 September 1916

50.09638140760369, 3.1538937453647593
Near Villers Plouich
Villers Plouich

Source ID: 61

Inside the victories of Manfred von richthofen - Volume 1, James F. Miller, Aeronaut Books, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-935881-42-1

„Gefechtsbericht: Vickers Nr. 7018, Motor Nr. 701, Maschinengewehre Nr. 17314n 10372, bei Villers Plouich, 1100 Uhr.

Beim Patrouillenflug entdeckte ich Schrapnellwolken in Richtung Cambrai. Ich eilte los und traf auf einen Trupp, den ich kurz nach 1100 angriff. Ich wählte die letzte Maschine aus und schoss mehrmals auf kürzeste Distanz (zehn Meter). Plötzlich stand der feindliche Propeller still. Die Maschine ging im Gleitflug zu Boden, und ich folgte ihr, bis ich den Beobachter getötet hatte, der bis zum letzten Augenblick nicht aufgehört hatte zu schießen. Nun ging mein Gegner in scharfen Kurven nach unten. Auf etwa 1.200 Meter kam eine zweite deutsche Maschine und griff mein Opfer bis auf den Boden an und landete dann neben dem englischen Flugzeug. Wetter: heller Vormittag mit Wolken am Nachmittag.

Augenzeugen: Hauptmann Boelcke von oben und Hauptmann Gaede, Leutnant Pelser und andere Offiziere von unten.

Pilot: N.C.O. Rees [sic], verwundet, Krankenhaus in Cambrai.

Beobachter: Gefallen, begraben durch Jagdstaffel 4.“

Comments (1)

  1. source: Inside the victories of Manfred von richthofen – Volume 1, James F. Miller, Aeronaut Books, 2016

    A discrepancy exists between Richthofen’s combat report and the account in his autobiography Der rote Kampfflieger. The combat report reveals that after Rees was KIA the FE.2 went „downwards in sharp curves“ and that at „approx. 1200 metres a second German machine came along and attacked my victim right down to the ground and then landed next to the English plane“. The autobiography indicates Richthofen „was so excited that I could not resist coming down, and I landed with such eagerness…that I almost went over on my nose“, and there is no mention of a second machine. Thus it is unclear if Richthofen flew away at 1200 metres (ca. 4000 feet) and left the claim up for grabs later or if the threat of the second machine stealing his victory prompted an eager landing to contest/secure the claim in the spot – although why not include this event in his combat report? In the end, Richthofen received credit for the claim and did retain a manufacture placard from 7018 as a souvenir, although his personal removal of this placard remains conjectural. Regardless, possession of this placard is not evidence of any landing by Richthofen.

    A discrepancy exists regarding where Morris died. Richthofen’s Der rote Kampfflieger indicates „the pilot died while being transported to the nearest field hospital“, while RFC Combat Casualty report states „information received from a private source that 2/Lt. Morris died at Cambrai Hospital on Sept. 17th“.

    A discrepancy exists regarding when Morris died. A letter written by No.11 Sqn Capt. D.S. Gray, who during the same sortie was shot down by Oswald Boelcke, revealed: „About a minute after landing I saw another one of our machines come down and disappear behind some trees and houses not far about 500 yards from us…It was crashed beside the road which was here on an embankment and a crowd of people round. The car drew up and I gathered from the German officer that the observer was killed and the pilot injured and had already been removed in an ambulance…We arrived that night at midnight at Cambrai and were told that there was a pilot named Morris in hospital brought down that morning, his observer being killed. The man who told us spoke English and walked up from the station with us to the prison and was I believe connected with the hospital. We saw no-one again until I think the next afternoon when we were told Morris had died that morning (i.e., 18 September).“ However, Morris’s casualty card, headstone, combat casualty report, and grave registrations report form all list the date of death as 17 September.

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