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N0KFQ > TODAY 21.04.12 18:07l 39 Lines 1647 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 21360_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Apr 21
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<IK6ZDE<I0OJJ<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120421/1553Z 21360@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.49
Apr 21, 1918:
Red Baron killed in action
In the skies over Vauz sur Somme, France, Manfred von Richthofen,
the notorious German flying ace known as "The Red Baron," is
killed by Allied fire.
Richthofen, the son of a Prussian nobleman, switched from the
German army to the Imperial Air Service in 1915. By 1916, he was
terrorizing the skies over the western front in an Albatross
biplane, downing 15 enemy planes by the end of the year,
including one piloted by British flying ace Major Lanoe Hawker.
In 1917, Richthofen surpassed all flying ace records on both
sides of the western front and began using a Fokker triplane,
painted entirely red in tribute to his old cavalry regiment.
Although only used during the last eight months of his career, it
is this aircraft that Richthofen was most commonly associated
with and it led to an enduring English nickname for the German
pilot--the Red Baron.
On April 21, 1918, with 80 victories under his belt, Richthofen
penetrated deep into Allied territory in pursuit of a British
aircraft. The Red Baron was flying too near the ground--an
Australian gunner shot him through his chest, and his plane
crashed into a field alongside the road from Corbie to Bray.
Another account has Captain A. Roy Brown, a Canadian in the Royal
Air Force, shooting him down. British troops recovered his body,
and he was buried with full military honors. He was 25 years old.
In a time of wooden and fabric aircraft, when 20 air victories
ensured a pilot legendary status, Manfred von Richthofen downed
80 enemy aircraft.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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