Tactics

A question has been seeking an answer. Suppose I am the Flight Leader of 4 RE-8s, on the East side of the Front. I do not have an escort, and a Kette from Jasta 2 shows up. Do I signal the rest of the flight to scatter, hoping that some will make it back while the Huns pick the bones of another, or do we gather together in the hope that we can provide supporting fires for mutual protection? Or does each simply start a rendition of the 23rd Psalm?

Mass together and fight back as best you can. Even a lowly FE-2 shot down von Richthofen once. Who knows, Maybe Naval 8 or 56 Squadron will come to the rescue. NEVER scatter to be taken down piecemeal. By the way, the Psalm isn't a bad idea either.

[Richard_Schrader]

Tom;
Richthofen was hit in the head by a bullet fired by one of his own pilots who was behind him.
Richard

Grouping together and hence providing some degree of mutual protection would probably be the best tactic here and depending on the experience and skill of the aircrews involved(pilots and gunners/observers)you could maybe dispense with Psalm 23 for another mission!

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Richard:
I found your statement most interesting that MvR was shot in the head by one of his own pilots. I would be most interested in the source of this information, precisely where did you get it?
Blue skies,
Dan-San Abbott

[Droops]

I've read the same, that one of his own pilots shot him. I think a recent book had it, I'll look it up. When I read that statement, it reminded me of many of the dogmatic statements that people make sometime to protect a hero or myth. Frankly, I don't put stock in it.

Regards,

John

[Rick]

Theis wounding of vR was postulated by AE Ferko in his monograph on vR, entitled, I believe, just "Richthofen". As I recall, he didn't present much in the way of facts, merely hypothesis, but it has been a while since I read it.

[Richard_Schrader]

Dan-San;
I read it in the "Illustrated Red Baron" by Peter Kilduff. As I recall this was according to the medical exam of the wound. If you look at the helment that Richthofen was wearing you can also see that the bullet came from the rear.
Richard

[Terry_Crisp]

Richard,
I'm afraid I must disagree. While friendly fire should never be discounted, I think in this engagement it was early in the game for such disorganisation.
I read this supposition in IRB with some skepticism and I am not at all convinced.Kilduff makes a point of the wound being above and slightly behind the left ear. This is nearly meaningless unless one supposes MvR kept his head locked forward. If I correctly recall the report, the enemy formation was to MvRs right front.
When I first read of this I took a good look at the Photo of the helmet. I just looked at again. I have seen a very great many bullet holes and it is my opinion that the shot came from the front. Specifically,Using the afore mentioned photo(pp. 75 IRB) the shot came from ten-ten thirty o'clock and a very fine angle from the wearers face front. This suggests to me that the head was leaned slightly forward as one might expect in one anticipating combat.
There's my two cents worth,
Best regards,
Terry

I play the board game Dawn Patrol, a good simulation of WWI air combat. We have played games like the what you have talked about. I played a game with two French Breguet 14's attacked by two Fokker DVII's. We stayed in formation and the Fokkers suffered badly. The key was staying in formation. The mutual defense from the rear guns covering blind spots made attack from the fighters tricky. This is one reason why in WWII German fighers preferred to attack lone bombers.