• Victory 1
  • The famed "Ehrenbecher" given by the Generalluftzeugmeister to airmen after their first victory. (picture source: Under the guns of the Red Baron, Norman Franks, Hal Giblin and Nigel McCrery)
  • The famed "Ehrenbecher" given by the Generalluftzeugmeister to airmen after their first victory. (picture source: The Illustrated Red Baron - The life and times of Manfred von Richthofen - Peter Kilduff -Cassel & Co - 2000)
  • Translated versions of Richthofen's first two combat reports, as procured from the National Archives, London. (picture source: Inside the victories of Manfred von richthofen - Volume 1, James F. Miller, Aeronaut Books, 2016)

Overwinning 01

Event ID: 127

Categorieën:

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

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 p. 21

ISBN: 978-1-935881-42-1

Tegenstander was Lionel Morris

vliegend met de F.E.2b 7018

VS

MvR vloog met de Albatros D.I 391/16

“Gevechtsverslag: Vickers No. 7018, Motor No. 701, Machinegeweren No. 17314n 10372, nabij Villers Plouich, 1100 uur.

Toen ik patrouille vloog ontdekte ik granaatschervenwolken in de richting van Cambrai. Ik snelde vooruit en ontmoette een sectie die ik kort na 1100 aanviel. Ik koos de laatste machine uit en vuurde verschillende keren op korte afstand (tien meter). Plotseling stond de vijandelijke propeller stil. De machine ging glijdend naar beneden en ik volgde tot ik de waarnemer had gedood die tot het laatste moment niet ophield met schieten. Nu ging mijn tegenstander in scherpe bochten naar beneden. Op ongeveer 1.200 meter kwam een tweede Duitse machine langs die mijn slachtoffer tot op de grond aanviel en vervolgens naast het Engelse toestel landde. Weer: heldere ochtend met bewolking in de middag.

Getuigen: Kapitein Boelcke van boven en Kapitein Gaede, Luitenant Pelser en andere officieren van beneden.

Piloot: N.C.O. Rees [sic], gewond, ziekenhuis bij Cambrai.

Waarnemer: Gesneuveld, begraven door 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.

    Beantwoorden

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