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Originally posted by Rightwire:
And a challenge to fly. Changes in engine torque were a constant battle of adjustment for the pilot with that large spinning mass in front of him. Aircraft with that engine rolled/ turned remarkably well in one direction and fought the other.

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Originally posted by MG34_Dan:
About 20 years ago I picked up a Spandau LMG 08/15. This is the air cooled version of the WWI German MG 08/15 machine gun and you can see a pair of them mounted on von Richthofen's Dr.1. I did some digging around and discovered the serial number of my LMG was 200 off from one of von Richthofen's on the day he was shot down and died. The Brits documented the serial numbers from his downed Dr.1 and included them in their reports. It seems that Spandau Armory built LMG 08/15s in batches and then sent them to various aircraft manufacturers for customization and installation on their aircraft. My LMG, and at least one of von Richthofen's, was manufactured in November of 1917.

Here is my LMG 08/15 ready to fire resting in a homemade cradle on top of a US M2 type tripod. The tripod itself is a conglomeration of Canadian and US components. Some truly crazy stuff comes out of Fort Hood. Oh, the LMG is fully functional and legally registered.

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Originally posted by Jim Shugart:
My FIL, who was a pilot, frequently commented on how amazing it was that the Wright brother's first flight and Apollo 11 both occurred during his lifetime.

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Originally posted by sigfreund:
That was very interesting; thank you.
I wonder who the British pilot was.

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In the skies over Vauz sur Somme, France, Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German flying ace known as “The Red Baron,” is killed by Allied fire.

Richthofen, the son of a Prussian nobleman, switched from the German army to the Imperial Air Service in 1915. By 1916, he was terrorizing the skies over the western front in an Albatross biplane, downing 15 enemy planes by the end of the year, including one piloted by British flying ace Major Lanoe Hawker. In 1917, Richthofen surpassed all flying ace records on both sides of the western front and began using a Fokker triplane, painted entirely red in tribute to his old cavalry regiment. Although only used during the last eight months of his career, it is this aircraft that Richthofen was most commonly associated with and it led to an enduring English nickname for the German pilot–the Red Baron.

On April 21, 1918, with 80 victories under his belt, Richthofen penetrated deep into Allied territory in pursuit of a British aircraft. The Red Baron was flying too near the ground–an Australian gunner shot him through his chest, and his plane crashed into a field alongside the road from Corbie to Bray. Another account has Captain A. Roy Brown, a Canadian in the Royal Air Force, shooting him down. British troops recovered his body, and he was buried with full military honors. He was 25 years old. In a time of wooden and fabric aircraft, when 20 air victories ensured a pilot legendary status, Manfred von Richthofen downed 80 enemy aircraft.