Did Manfred......

[GabiLaser]

"Four of them quickly sped back into the clouds and escaped; but one, a Bristol two-seater, with remarkable courage stood his ground. He must have known that Richthofen was at our head and felt that he had a score to settle with him. On a fast, clean curve he flew straight for the Baron and started firing with his fixed guns at almost point-blank range. But he missed. Richthofen never wavered. In exactly four seconds the picture had changed. Within 200 meters of the point where a few minutes before he had brought down the other Englander, Richthofen sent him burning to the ground."

("How I Shot Down 62 Planes" by Ernst Udet)

Originally Posted by GabiLaser

"Four of them quickly sped back into the clouds and escaped; but one, a Bristol two-seater, with remarkable courage stood his ground. He must have known that Richthofen was at our head and felt that he had a score to settle with him. On a fast, clean curve he flew straight for the Baron and started firing with his fixed guns at almost point-blank range. But he missed. Richthofen never wavered. In exactly four seconds the picture had changed. Within 200 meters of the point where a few minutes before he had brought down the other Englander, Richthofen sent him burning to the ground."

("How I Shot Down 62 Planes" by Ernst Udet)

This passage, at least, has all the hallmarks of being "ghosted" (or at least rewritten to make it a bit more sensational) by someone who knew little about flying - much less arial combat - alas, this is common with German aces' "autobiographies" of this period.

The story from the British side (which one should take with a similar pinch of salt) is that Bristol F2bs couldn't get the Germans to take them on at all unless they flew alone or in pairs!

Anyway - aircraft identification (on both sides) was very poor - all British tractor two-seaters tended to get called "Bristols" by the Germans, just as all pushers were "Vickers" types. So this victory might even have been an R.E.8 or a F.K.8 - types that WOULD have avoided combat with a formation of enemy fighters. Perhaps the pilot of the "Bristol" was under actual attack and had no choice but to turn into the attack? Or perhaps the whole incident is the fruit of some German hack writer's imagination?

This sort of speculation may be fun - but it's obviously never going to get us anywhere.