What killed MvR?

[Shooter]

*hoisting a brewskie in Tom's direction*
Here, here, bro!

Bad luck. Or good luck if you want to look at it from the other angle.

Mark

[rammjaeger]

Maybe his Kampfhund Moritz?

[Vin]

I agree with Mark. A single shot hitting him in or about the heart. I’d reckon he was pretty stiff. Put another way, the odds kept narrowing each time he flew. Now if he had taken the dog with him....


Vin

[stevedrew]

Dear Mark,
What killed Manfred von Richthofen was a rookie error. He broke a rule that he drummed into his pilots to never break. He flew into a deadly hail of gunfire from Australian gunners on the ground. Stupid thing to do for such an experienced hunter. He paid very dearly for his error.
Regards
Steve Drew

A bullet thru the heart....well put Mark

The Ausi gunner fatally shot MvR beyond a doubt. This isn't JFK and it's not the 'Magic Bullet' theory.

It is interesting to note the varied responses of issues regarding air superiority. I personally like the one response of basically 'tunnel vision'
It is highly likely that air combat had become quite routine to MvR as he himself often allowed the rookie pilots take an easy kill much as a moterh cat brings a near dead mouse to her kitten. To say he thought of himself as invincable..No..I don't think so. I think he was tired and made a mistake.

The allies were only superior to the Germans by shear numbers. Very much the same situation in WW2. The Germans were always much more advanced in weaponry...they just implemented it at the wrong stage of the game. The ME-262 is a prime example of this. Had Hitler listened to Galland and put the plane into service when it was available as a fighter things might have been much different. Instead he insisted that it be converted to a bomber. Our industrial power pushed us through victory in both wars.

Boy we could have a blast w/ this one!

In one theory as presented, a bullet killed MvR. Ah but was he really dead? Or did he bite it when he bit the dust (quite literally). I think perhaps it was a stunt double and the real MvR defected.

[Vigilant]

There is a book out there called "The Red Red Baron" in which MvR is pulled out of the crash alive and his funeral faked by the Brits, who then persuade him to work for British Intelligence in Soviet Russia...

Vigilant