"Who Really Shot Down the Red Baron?" Topic

I tried to cross post this poll subject but couldn't find this board on the cross posts. So here it is.

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snoopy

Was it Snoopy,or was it the Great Pumpkin?

It was Snoopy. The Great Pumpkin just supplied the "new battle plan," according the the Royal Guardsmen.

It was definitely Snoopy.

Infantry

Battle fatigue – getting carelessly close to ground.

Combination of air and ground crossfire,but that's JMO. But ,as John Ford later put it,"When the legend becomes fact,print the legend."

Pedrobear

Where is that plaque from?
I don't remember seeing it in any of the books on MVR.

Cliff

P.S. – Popkin did in MVR with his MG from the right side. One lucky bullet.

Camcleod,

I saw it at the Melbourne Museum:

link

Plaque got the date wrong. So, the Aussies must have shot some other Hun down….

Nova did a great show on this. Very detailed with latest research. It's pretty conclusive (or at least I was convinced) that it was the Australian MG team on the ground.

Angle of delivery for the fatal bullet is always going to be arguable. Given the extremely maneuverable traits of the airplanes involved, the bullet could have entered Richthofen's body from literally any angle.

Finding a ground gunner who was in the right place at the right time only makes for the controversy.

Brown shot at Richthofen and witnesses saw the DR1 "crash".

See, even the descriptive words don't strictly suit the facts. People see things differently. Official reports are created out of those descriptions. And the contradictions enter in. And we have no resolution. Which gives all of "us" endless opportunities to talk about "it" again….

" the bullet could have entered Richthofen's body from literally any angle "

The autopsy showed that the bullet hit MVR behind the right armpit and exited thru the upper left chest and went in a slightly upward trajectory. Granted we don't know the exact attitude of his Triplane, but witnesses say it had just made a right turn and was flying fairly level at the time Popkin shot at it.
Brown's shots may have hit the plane from the rear, but did little damage. MVR's body had NO other bullet wounds.

Rear, side, above, below. All are possible when considering how Brown flew down, zoomed back up and shot in the middle of his maneuvering. May was jigging like a madman. MVR was pursing, aiming and shooting. That means his DR1 was momently in vertical, combat turns, left and right. If, IF, MVR turned away from May to throw Brown off, then resumed more or less level flight after May again, that single fact would account for a bullet from the ground. The documentary made that point. But did not prove it.

The whole subject of the range required to be c. 600 yards, I found to be problematic based on the probing of the entry and exit wounds and following the passage of the bullet through the body. Without actually opening MVR up, there would be no way to accurately assess the amount of damage from the hydrostatic shock. So we can dismiss the "required long range" aspects of this. In my opinion, of course….

Aussie ground troops vickers MG Buller.

As with all these discussions, it was anyone but a British bloke, The British achieved nothing, won no battles, did nothing of note. ever.

Brown done him, as Eskins done Wittmann.

John

Ummm.
Brown was a Canadian, still NOT a British kill :)

Hahahahahaha, of course he was, I totally knew that.

John

"Who really shot down the Red Baron?" It was me. I confess, I've been keeping quiet about it all these years hoping it would just go away. But I can't stand the pressure any more. It was me. There I said it.

Signed;
Hermann Goering.