A Little Information On The Fokker Tri-plane
The Fokker Tri-plane is the model "DR-1". It began production on July 14, 1917, in response to the fabulous success of the British Sopworth Tri-plane. When the first DR-1's appeared on the on the Western Front in August of '17, pilots were impressed with it's maneuverability. When von Richthofen took to the air in his famous red Tri-plane, he scored ninteen of his last 21 victories.
Fokker built 320 of the famous Tri-planes with a pause in the production while the wings were redesigned to prevent in-flight failures. No original Fokker DR-1 Tri-planes survived with only reproductions taking to the air today.
Baron von Richthofen, the Red Baron, died on April 21, 1918. He was shot down and killed over the Australian lines in the Western Front in France. There is great controversy as to who was responsible for shooting down von Richthofen. Unfortunately, we will not be able to put this controversy to rest here.
Captain Brown, a Canadian pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, flying a Sopwith Camel fighter was known to have attacked von Richthofen and he was officially credited with shooting him down. He was eventually awarded a bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross for the feat. However, the Australians immediately contested Brown's claim as von Richthofen had flown at a very low height directly over their lines and had been fired upon by the Australian anti-aircraft machine gunners, as well as by many Australian soldiers. There is the possiblity that the actual man to have shot down the famous Red Baron was Segeant Popkin, an Australian Vickers machine gunner. It remains in dispute. I don't know if it really mattered to the Red Baron or not. The end result was the same.
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