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Victory 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

Combat Report: Vickers No. 7018, Motor No. 701, Machine guns Nos 17314n 10372, near Villers Plouich, 1100 hrs.

When patrol flying I detected shrapnel clouds in direction of Cambrai. I hurried forth and met a squad which I attacked shortly after 1100. I singled out the last machine and fired several times at closest range (ten metres). Suddenly the enemy propellor stood stock still. The machine went down gliding and I followed until I had killed the observer who had not stopped shooting until the last moment. Now my opponent went downwards in sharp curves. At approximately 1.200 metres a second German machine came along and attacked my victim right down to the ground and then landed next to the English plane. Weather: bright morning with clouds in the afternoon.

Witnesses: Capt. Boelcke from above and Capt. Gaede, Lieut. Pelser and other officers from below.

Pilot: N.C.O. Rees [sic], wounded, hospital at Cambrai.

Observer: Killed, buried by Jagdstaffel 4.

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  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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