Aerial Combat in WWI

muir · by **muir** » 27 Mar 2009, 02:06

I doubt many if any USAF (or whatever they would have been called back then) pilots flew against Richthofen. He was killed by a canadian pilot though if memory serves me correct. Remember the US entered the war late and what was needed most were boots on the ground (read, in the trenches).

StolichnayaStrafer · by **StolichnayaStrafer** » 27 Mar 2009, 02:14

Richtofen was killed by ground fire from Australian infantry.

The Golden BB can stop even the best of them- never underestimate its power.

TC · by TC » 27 Mar 2009, 04:23

muir wrote:USAF (or whatever they would have been called back then)

United States Army Air Service

muir · by **muir** » 27 Mar 2009, 11:54

TC wrote:
muir wrote:USAF (or whatever they would have been called back then)

United States Army Air Service

Thanks TC. It was late round here. =)

muir · by **muir** » 27 Mar 2009, 22:40

Stoli

You´re absolutely right, but at least for a while a candian major got credited with the kill. Even when I´m wrong I´m sort of right in a way :wink:

TC · by TC » 27 Mar 2009, 23:09

I'm moving a topic over from another thread concerning the final flight of Baron Mandfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron". I felt this was worthy of its own thread, without leading its previous thread too far astray.

ptplauthor · by **ptplauthor** » 28 Mar 2009, 01:18

I'm moving a topic over from another thread concerning the final flight of Baron Mandfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron". I felt this was worthy of its own thread, without leading its previous thread too far astray.

I hate it when I end up doing stuff like that, and making more work for you fine mods.

muir wrote:
USAF (or whatever they would have been called back then)

United States Army Air Service

The USAAS was involved in WWI, but wasn't around until after May 24th, the Aviation Section, US Signal Corps was involved in the war prior to that date--so yes the few US fliers could very well have had tangles with the Red Baron, but I am not aware of any.

http://www.af.mil/history/overview.asp

As for the Red Baron, I'm more convinced that he was downed by fire from the ground--it was a .303 that caused the fatal wound, and if the entrance wound was from the front, it seems less likely that a bullet fired from one moving aircraft could hit the Baron when he was in another moving target, whereas a soldier on the ground could easily target Rictofen's plane with a rifle (after all his plane had an extra set of wings and was bright friggin red) and fire when he had a proper bead.

muir · by **muir** » 28 Mar 2009, 02:11

Yeah, sorry for the trouble TC.

TC · by TC » 28 Mar 2009, 04:59

No problemo!

Heh heh! It made for a more interesting topic this way anyhow.

StolichnayaStrafer · by **StolichnayaStrafer** » 28 Mar 2009, 15:31

Richtofen died in April(18th or 21st?) of 1918, no chance to hassle with American fliers. However, he may have fought against American volunteers in the Lafayette Escadrille.

ptplauthor · by **ptplauthor** » 28 Mar 2009, 18:18

Richtofen died in April(18th or 21st?) of 1918, no chance to hassle with American fliers. However, he may have fought against American volunteers in the Lafayette Escadrille.

So, okay, he may not have went up against the ASUSC, and he died before they changed the name to the USAAS, but he still may have flown against Americans. In my last post, I didn't distinguish between ASUSC or volunteers, primarily because some may have left the service to go fight early.

StolichnayaStrafer · by **StolichnayaStrafer** » 29 Mar 2009, 01:54

One funny tidbit of trivia about the US flying during WWI- we didn't have any planes of our own except trainers. I think those may have been Curtiss Jennys if my memory serves me correctly.

skyhigh · by **skyhigh** » 29 Mar 2009, 05:39

The USAAS flew French-build SPAD XIIIs, one of the best Allied fighters on the Western Front.

LordOfBunnies · by **LordOfBunnies** » 29 Mar 2009, 05:47

Fun fact about the Red Baron. His first two kills were from the bad seat of an a plane using a shotgun.

ptplauthor · by **ptplauthor** » 29 Mar 2009, 06:35

Fun fact about the Red Baron. His first two kills were from the bad seat of an a plane using a shotgun.

Talk about close fighting. If I didn't know what I know about the start of aerial warfare, I'd say that was bull, but the evolution was slow. First wasn't it revolvers and handguns, then they decided to mount machine guns.

Anthony Fokker was one pretty smart--well Fokker--he came up with the synchronizer gear so you wouldn't blow the prop off the plane by shooting through it.