Who Shot Manfred von Richthofen? | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.25.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Fri, Feb 07, 2003

Who Shot Manfred von Richthofen?

New Discovery Channel Film Challenges 'Roy Brown' Answer

On the morning of April 21, 1918, Baron von Richthofen took a single bullet to the chest, crashed, and went into history as the greatest Ace of World War I. Just whose gun fired that bullet has been a mystery ever since.

Most of the forensic evidence surrounding the crash was destroyed or stolen by souvenier-hunters; and the Red Baron's body did not retain the bullet, so the absolute, hard evidence we'd all feel comfortable with just doesn't exist.

However...

For years, the Canadian pilot, Roy Brown, was given, if not an imprimatur, at least a conscious nod, by military historians. Brown himself thought he had probably been the one, as he fired "a long burst" at what he thought was von Richthofen's mount, to shoot the triplane off "Wop" May's Camel. A new Discovery Channel piece, though, challenges that theory, and points out that, among other things, Brown's plane was probably on the other side of von Richthofen's plane -- the side the bullet did not come from.

There was a guy on the right side, though, an Australian with a machine gun, named "Snowy" Evans. The new film gives him approval to wear the crown as the man who took out the 25-year-old Ace of Aces, over Vaux sur Somme.

The evidence used to move the credit from Brown, who died in 1944, to Evans consists of more than that entry wound. (After all, the Fokker was reported to have been corkscrewing around a lot that cloudy morning.) Re-enactments of what is known of the dogfight, using computer graphics and laser "guns," points to the infantryman as the most-likely hero that morning.

Captain Brown, ever a gentleman and never himself definitively claiming that most-famous bullet of the war, would be pleased that science is trying to truly pin down the essence of that battle.

FMI: www.discoverychannel.com

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Prelim: Piper PA-23

Pilot Also Reported That Due To A Fuel Leak, The Auxiliary Fuel Tanks Were Not Used On June 4, 2025, at 13:41 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-23, N2109P, was substantially damage>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: One Man’s Vietnam

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Reflections on War’s Collective Lessons and Cyclical Nature The exigencies of war ought be colorblind. Inane social-constructs the likes of racis>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Capella Aircraft Corp FW1C50

Pilot Reported That He Was Unfamiliar With The Single Seat Amateur-Built Airplane And His Intent Was To Perform High-Speed Taxi Testing Analysis: The pilot reported that he was unf>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Timber Tiger Touts Curtiss Jenny Replicas

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): First Kits to Ship October 2023 Having formerly resurrected the storied shape of the Ryan ST—in effigy, anyway—Montrose, Colorado-based Tim>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.04.25): Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) [ICAO]

Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) [ICAO] Area navigation based on performance requirements for aircraft operating along an ATS route, on an instrument approach procedure or in a d>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC