And I thought he was killed by lead poisoning.

[Knight26]

As if being riddled with a few dozen rounds of cannon fire isn't bad enough now they say the red baron died because of brain damage.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/09/22...n.ap/index.html

[motley]

cannon fire? i was under the impression he flew a little too low to the ground in a dogfight, and right past an austrailian infantry squad. he took a couple rifle rounds and crashed.

still an interesting article. and kind of exlpains why he might have flown too low.

[Zentrandude]

you should watch the pbs shows once in awhile. they already talk about that a year or more ago. bit sad he was trying to shoot down a rookie that got scared and fired apon another rookie (outside of the main battle they both was told to observe the battle) that von was training.

[Pat Payne]

It seriously wouldn't surprise me. Having read quite a bit about Rittmeister von Richthofen, I'd heard all about that before (the wound was pretty bad, leaving something like three-four inches of his skull exposed -- the bullet didn't just "crease" his skull, the bullet ricocheted off of his skull!). Even in his own autobiography (which started out as a series of memoirs written at the front -- it's still available in English translation) there's mention of the wounds suffered and the effect they seemed to have on his state of mind.

Edited September 22, 2004 by Pat Payne

[Pat Payne]

cannon fire?  i was under the impression he flew a little too low to the ground in a dogfight, and right past an austrailian infantry squad.  he took a couple rifle rounds and crashed.

still an interesting article.  and kind of exlpains why he might have flown too low.

Aussie Anti-aircraft, not infantry. Both they and Roy Brown claim the kill. And it wasn't "a few dozen rounds" IIRC, they found a rather large single hole in his chest. As a testament to the gentleness of most WW1 aircraft designs, he didn't so much crash as glide and make a "deadman" landing before nosing over behind the Allied lines.

Edited September 22, 2004 by Pat Payne

[JELEINEN]

cannon fire?  i was under the impression he flew a little too low to the ground in a dogfight, and right past an austrailian infantry squad.  he took a couple rifle rounds and crashed.

still an interesting article.  and kind of exlpains why he might have flown too low.

Aussie Anti-aircraft, not infantry. Both they and Roy Brown claim the kill. And it wasn't "a few dozen rounds" IIRC, they found a rather large single hole in his chest. As a testament to the gentleness of most WW1 aircraft designs, he didn't so much crash as glide and make a "deadman" landing before nosing over behind the Allied lines.

Of course his plain was completely dismantled for souveniers within a matter of minutes afterwards. I remember reading a biography about him years ago. Pretty cool guy, but his brother, Lothar, doesn't get nearly the credit he should.