I have just gotten myself a copy of the Walter Zuerl book Pour le Merite Flieger. The photos btw p 320 and p 321 show items pertaining to ball... signal pistols,... and a Vickers machine gun. Does anyone know where these items have ended up? According to the book the machine gun has a bullet hole from
LvR which is interesting in as so far as there was a 'claim' that the airplane had no battle damage whatsoever?! of course it could have been there before the LvR scrap.... and it could be someone elses gun. Nevertheless, if that was the original then it would do away with the theory of the thorough inspection of the 'triplane' SE showing no battle damage ..... Brings us to the point that it is very difficult to come up with 'definites' x years later... it still amazes me that we are so sure about inverted flying whilst changing Lewis gun amunition drums.... Am not trying to claim for LvR but want to do away with the bull that discredits his claim. He was shot down in this engagement and thought it was a tripe... seems to me he was put under a lot of pressure and getting shot down speaks for itself.... in his situation i would have probably seen f16's.
let me recap: ball shoots down lvr.... all clear
lvr claims a tripe.... doubtful but not impossible in the heat of combat
ground observers conveniently confirm a tripe... doubtful
lewis gun drum hitting ball.... fiction no proof
disorientation in cloud leading to loss of control... fiction no proof
german ground personel confirming lack of battle damage on crashed plane... extremely doubtful
ball confirmed as leathaly injured in crash... all clear
Lvr claim massaging... propaganda
.... based on this who wants to bet their life on LvR or the other theories???