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N0KFQ > TODAY 17.09.12 23:04l 56 Lines 2694 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Sep 17
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Sent: 120917/2037Z 28429@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.52
Sep 17, 1916:
Manfred von Richthofen shoots down his first plane
On this day in 1916, the German air ace Manfred von
Richthofen_known to history as the "Red Baron"_shoots down his
first enemy plane over the Western Front during World War I.
Richthofen, the son of a Prussian nobleman, switched from the
German army to the Imperial Air Service in 1915. He became the
star pupil and protégé of Oswald Boelcke, one of Germany's most
successful fighter pilots. After seeing action over the Eastern
Front, where he bombed Russian forces and railway junctions,
Richthoften began his legendary career in the west. On September
17, 1916, in his first trip in a combat patrol commanded by
Boelcke, Richthofen found himself and his Albatross biplane
engaged in aerial combat by a plane piloted by British Second
Lieutenant Lionel Morris.
Richthofen later recounted the experience: "My Englishman twisted
and turned, flying in zig-zags. I was animated by a single
thought: `The man in front of me must come down, whatever
happens.' At last a favorable moment arrived. My opponent had
apparently lost sight of me. Instead of twisting and turning he
flew straight along. In a fraction of a second I was at his back
with my excellent machine. I gave a short burst of shots with my
machine-gun. I had gone so close that I was afraid I might dash
into the Englishman. Suddenly I nearly yelled with joy, for the
propeller of the enemy machine had stopped turning. Hurrah! I had
shot his engine to pieces; the enemy was compelled to land, for
it was impossible for him to reach his own lines."
Richthofen followed the enemy plane to the ground, landing close
to the German lines, where he discovered that both the pilot and
the observer that accompanied him, Lieutenant T. Rees, were
mortally wounded. According to Richthofen, "I honored the fallen
enemy by placing a stone on his beautiful grave."
By the end of 1916, Richthofen had downed 15 enemy planes. The
following year, he 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 was this
aircraft with which Richthofen was most commonly associated and
that led to an enduring English nickname for the German pilot_the
Red Baron. By the time he was shot down and killed over the Somme
River on April 21, 1918, the 25-year-old Richthofen had downed 80
enemy aircraft, securing his status as one of the greatest air
aces to emerge from World War I on either side of the conflict.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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