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KF5JRV > TODAY 21.04.19 18:16l 32 Lines 1590 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 34913_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Apr 21
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190421/1615Z 34913@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
In the skies over Vauz sur Somme, France, Manfred von Richthofen, the
notorious German flying ace known as “The Red Baron,ö 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 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@GMAIL.COM
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