• Victory 61 (picture source: Thomas La Padula - Aviation Art)
  • a group of men standing next to each other
    Richthofen shares an apparently jocular moment with a relieved Algneron Bird, shortly after his downing. The strap of Richthofen's head bandage is clearly visible descending from under his cap and circling beneath his chin. This photograph is one of many which demonstrate that by early September Richthofen was neither morose nor isolating himself any longer 'within his four walls' after aerial combat. (picture source: Inside the victories of Manfred von richthofen - Volume 2, James F. Miller, Aeronaut Books, 2016)
  • picture source: General Internet Search
  • picture source: General Internet Search
  • a group of men in uniforms standing next to each other
    Another shot of Lieutenant A.F.Bird of 46 Squadron, RFC after being shot down by MvR for his 61st victory. (picture source: The Red Baron, a photographic album of the first world war's greatest ace, Manfred von Richthofen, Terry C Treadwell, Pen and Sword Books, 2021)
  • two men standing next to an airplane in the grass
    Victory 61. (picture source: The Illustrated Red Baron - The life and times of Manfred von Richthofen - Peter Kilduff -Cassel & Co - 2000)
  • two men standing next to an old airplane
    picture source: Manfred von Richthofen, The man and the aircraft he flew, David Baker, 1990, Outline Press
  • Richthofen inspects his 61st victory, No. 46 Squadron Algernon Bird's downed Sopwith Pup near Bousbeque. Bird is reported to have directed his forced landing into a tree to destroy his machine, and the ditch visible underneath the airplane likely aided that endeavor. Note Anthony Fokker, wearing Bird's confiscated leather flight jacket, is leaning into the cockpit. (Greg Vanwyngarden) (picture source: Inside the victories of Manfred von richthofen - Volume 2, James F. Miller, Aeronaut Books, 2016)
  • Manfred von Richthofen and Anthony Fokker with one of Richthofen's victims, a Sopwith Pup B1795. (picture source: The Red Baron, a photographic album of the first world war's greatest ace, Manfred von Richthofen, Terry C Treadwell, Pen and Sword Books, 2021)
  • Richthofen's mother Kunigunde tending to some of the souvenirs in her son's bedroom. Triangular fabric swatches on the wall are the port and starboard serial numbers of Sopwith Pup B1795. (picture source: Inside the victories of Manfred von richthofen - Volume 2, James F. Miller, Aeronaut Books, 2016)

Victory 61

Event ID: 52

Categories: 

Air Combat
Deutsch
Bodenschatz – Jagd in Flanderns Himmel

03 September 1917

50.75955243805384, 3.0763453864199293
South of Bousbecque, above German lines
Bousbecque
Boesbeke

Source ID: 58

Jagd in Flanderns Himmel, Karl Bodenschatz, Verlag Knorr & Hirth München, 1935

Opponent was  Algernon Bird

flying the Sopwith Pup B1795   

VS

MvR was flying the Fokker F.I 102/17 

From Under the guns of the Red Baron (N. Franks et al):  Combat report: 0735 hrs, south of Bousbecque, this side of the lines. Sopwith 1, B1795; motor no.: 35123 (80 hp Le Rhône Type ‘R’). Occupant: Lieutenant A F Bird, made prisoner, unwounded.

Aus Jagd in Flandrens Himmel, Bodenschatz:

Achtunvierzig Stunden später gibt es einen tollen Tag. Der Rittmeister beginnt ihn, trotz Ziffer II und umliegender Befehle, die seine Person betreffen.

Um 7.35 gerät er mit einem außerordentlicher tapferen Gegner zusammen.

“Mit 5 Flugzeugen der Staffel 11 in einen Geschwaderkampf mit Sopwith-Einsitzern verwickelt, griff ich in 3500 m Höhe einen der Gegner an und zwang ihn nach ziemlich langem Kurvenkampf bei Bousbeque zur Landung. Ich hatte unbedingt die Überzeugung, einen sehr gewandten Flieger vor mir zu haben, der sich auch in 50 m Höhe noch nicht ergab, wieder schoß, undnoch beim Ausschweben eine Kolonne unter Feuer nahm, dann absichtlich seine Machine gegen einen Baum rollte. Der Fokker-Dreidecker F I. 102/17 war dem englischen Sopwith unbedingt überlegen.”

This Post Has 0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back To Top