Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/270 PART 1/1 - 1918 - 1939 - Part 7

27a
2

53 Bty L.guns probably assisted but F. thought first hit
by Popkin "as he ws unsteady from / moment of tt first
burst of fire." The airman's body ws aftwds tn in
charge by offrs of the A.F.C. & / wrecked plane
salvaged by them after dark.

Lt. Geo N. Travers [*HQ*] 52 Bn.  Rept to Col. Witham. Ap 23.
Liaison offr to Bde HQ. at J 19 c 8.5.  Abt 11.15 lying on
grd w runner 50^x from Bde HQ setting map & having genl
look rd w glasses.  Heard "a plane or planes x coming at
a tremendous pace from / directn of 26 Central." A Vickers
gun ws firing from a spot situated at J 25 A 8.9.  "The
first plane wh came into view ws one of our own, & less than
20 paces behind was an enemy plane painted red. The red
plane ws overhauling our plane fast & both were
flying so low tt they almost crashed into / trees at
top of hill. Almost directly over / spot where I ws
lying / enemy plane swerved to / right so suddenly
tt it seemed ^almost to turn over. Our plane went straight
on from tt moment. The enemy plane ws quite out of
control & did a wide circle & dashed towds J 19 B 34 where
it crashed."
Travers thought R had bn hit on l. side of face
near bottom of jaw & came out at rt eye.
 Popkin's gunx ws only one then firing

11.25 am
 11 Bde reported ^to 3D Richt. brt down & wired 13 Bde also tt one of its guns
did it.
3 D reptd 5 Corps 11.45a.m. "Brt down by AA small arms fire."

Sgt Popkin CB. 24Ap. 10.45 "one of our aeroplanes was being engd by a G
aeroplane & ws being driven down  The planes came from an
easterly directn & when within range of my gun were flying
very low, just about / tree tops. I imdly got my gun into actn &
waited for our own plane to pass me as / planes were
close togr & there ws a risk of hitting both. As soon as
this risk ws over I opened fire on / germ. plane. The plane
at once gave up / chase, our own escaped, & / German
plane banked, turned round, & came back towards my
gun. As it came towds me I opened fire a second time
& observed at once tt my fire took effect. The machine
swervd, attempted to bank & made for / grd, & immedly
crashed."
[*Brit. plane
didnt fire.  !  *]

P. saw Richt immdly after fall - He had at least 3 mg bullets
thro his body - one in / ribs at / side & two thro' chest. P. thought
/ chest wd killed him in 2 or 3 secs. 

27b

3

Hann says in Summary: Buie & Evans were 100^x away when fire opened.
based on Evidce of eye wits.
R. was armed w 2 air cooled m.gs.
G. wireless on Ap 21 sd. Capt Baron v R. at / head of
Pursuit flight 11 attained his 79^th & 80^th air victories &
G. planes flew over. Inf guard ws placed ^over body & machine but driven
away by German barr.
LGrs Gr. WJ Evans 598 & Gr R Buie 3801. 53 Bty -
 Diary of 3 Sqn A.F.C.
2 machines of 3 Sqn encountered Circus at same time
but "werent concerned in / actual shooting down o / celebr enemy."
Lts Simpon & Banks, & Lts Garrett & Barrow were going to
photo Corps line where in RE 8s when saw G. triplanes
apprg.  S & B were 1st attd by 4 triplanes of wh one separated
& went down. ^when obs & fired 100 rds. The others withdrew & attd G & B. Obsvr got
in 120 rds Lewis Gun & anor Ea went down out of control.
Both machines then went on. On returng S & B were
again attd by a no of Albatross scouts but put
up a running fight & evaded them.

The L Grs of 5 DA. claimed R. but, "after / matter
had bn carefully investgd, / award ws made to Capt
Brown of No 209 Sqn R.A.F.

[* Warneford says
Posn ws still being
shelled.
At 2 pm when body
ws salved.
Fokker triplane
No 2009.
(no notes as to any
damage by mg fire
CEWB)*]

At 1 am on Ap. 22 Air mechanic Collins CC. crept out
to / machine & removed R's body. Remnants of
machine colld after dark & brt back to Squs
Aerodrome at Roulainville
 On aftn of 22 he ws buried w full milty honours
firg pty of mechanics of No 3 Squ A.F.C.
Coffin made in Squ workshops inscrd in Engl. &
Germ.
 Cavalry Captain Manfred Baron von Richthofen
Age 22 years, killed in action
aerial combat, near Sailly le Sec,
Somme, France, 21st April, 1918.
 Germ. air force sent over note ^to xx xxx R. Eng. flying Corps asking for
fate of v. R.
 Capt R L Forsythe A.A.M.C. ^Diary (written up ^later in 1918.)52 Bn in Vaux. "Standing at / back door of our
farm one aftn" he saw the fight. Much circling & manoeuvring v. high
up, till over our lines "Suddenly their formation opened out and a big
red speck darted at one of ours w gt speed. They were chattering
away w their m.gs. The red triplane circled round our place & ws
evidently faster & better managed as our boy got lower & lower & finally
came skimming along a few hundred feet above / earth w / big plane on
his tail. He got lower & lower & came straight for our house. I ran
thro / house to / front door just in time to see him almost tip /
tiles of our gate (an impressive tiled affair) and after him, lower
than I have ever seen a plane, came / big triplane. Julien with
me gave a yell & grabbed for his revolver, but he had left it in / mess -
Over / village they went & skimmed up / hill behind it, the triplane
stuttering its gun off in short gasps at what looked like a 30 ft range.
At the brow o / hill our boy turned sharply & / triplane ran into a direct stream 

27c
 4

of bullets from a machinegun in amongst a battery. He swept away
sideways at once, very low, turned sharply as if going to attack the gun, &
nosedived to earth.

We all started to run over, when / Hun opened with salvos over
/ position." [It wd be 1200^x away].

J.S. Seccull NCO in/c of 2 L. guns w 53 Bty.
 24 May 1930

"A battle ws going on betw a number of Brit & Germ planes . . .
A Brit. plane left / others chased by a Germ. plane painted red. After
many turns & dives / German plane got above & behind / Brit.
plane & started to force it down toward our guns. I called for / gunners.
Then Buie took up No 1 gun & Evans took No 2. The guns were abt
5 feet apart. After / planes had travelled about two miles they were
still in / same positn. Then / Brit plane passed direct over our
heads at a height of about 200 feet & directly behind it ws /
Germ. plane flying at abt 300 feet. I cd not give / order to fire
until / Brit. plane had passed over / guns owing to it being in
/ line of fire, but as soon as it had passed / two guns opened
fire. They only fired for a few seconds but it was a direct
aim & we were firing a phosphorous bullet to every three ordinary
bullets & so we could see our line of fire direct to / cockpit.
The German plane at once turned to his right, wobbled,
& within a few seconds crashed about 300 yards away. . . . . There
were no other planes within miles. . . . The German airman
was firing & the bullets landed close to us at / gun. We
carried / German airman over to our bty & he lay outside my
dugout until / folg morning when / aircraft service sent &
took him away."
 Seccull ws called into his OC. Maj. Beavis when Lt "May"
& his O.C. were present & were trying to claim / honour. Seccull asked
"M." his positn when / Germ. crashed" & he admitted to be in / above
positn. Then I asked him how he cd fire backwards" - - - etc
 Lt J.C. Doyle. At abt 11 am I ws in / forward L.G. pit (I 24 B 9. 5.)
watching planes manoeuvring over our lines. Two planes flying at abt
150 feet - a Brit. Sopwith Camel pursued by an enemy triplane
painted/red - approached / L.G. from the East.!! At 100^x "the
enemy plane ws then firing at / British machine. After several
bursts of fire / Hun plane turned xxx NE and wobbled as if out of
control. While turning further effective bursts were fired. The plane
went out of control, veered to / north, & crashed."
 Gnr ws Evans.
 Lt A B Ellis ws in / other (rear) L.G. pit. (Buie's) "when / two planes
approached from / East - - - - The gunner was able to fire direct
onto / body o / Enemy pilot. As soon as fire ws opened /
plane turned N.  Further bursts were fired & / plane
crashed.

Capt L E Beavis. "I saw / two planes approach & / two Lewis
guns open fire when / enemy plane was at a height of
abt 150 feet & 100 to 200^x away. It was flying directly
toward / Lewis guns. The fire ws effective as / plane turned NE
apparently out of control. It then turned towds / N and crashed. 
The wounds in / pilots body were mainly in / chest & stomach. .  Bdr Seccull J S.
ws in charge o / Lewis guns 

217d
 5

Doyle says (1930) that they saw / two planes leave / ^general fight & head down /
valley towds Corbie. They couldnt see them xxxdly when abt Vaux,
the crest hiding them - "for possibly two minutes, but could hear
/ roar of their machines. The machines came up over / quarry in
a direct line to Hamel, heading directly for / bty. . . The L.G. cd not
open fire as both planes were aligned & none of us
knew wh ws ours. . . . . Fire ws held until the Camel cd
be recogd, & as / triplane riding on / Camel's tail
opened fire No 1 L.G. Bombardier Seccull went into
action at a range not greater than 100^x. . . . . both
guns regd on / Triplane, & when directly over No 1
gun / plane staggered, sideslipped into a bank, &
in / bank swerved in a 3/8 circle towards his lines,
& after sailing some hundreds of yards sideslipped &
crashed into a wurzel heap."

The claimant aftwds wiped his claim at / conference of
bty position. (They were at X purposes)

Lt J Punch sd L.Gs. were firing from Vaux; a Siglr
of 53 Bty sd a rifleman emptied a magazine & got him.

Richthofen's reports of Ap. 26 claim (1) an Engl. Camel shot down burning near Hamel Wood,
& 3 mins later anor Camel. It fell burning N.E. of V/B,
His last 5 victories Ap 6, 7, & 20 were all {*on or*] near our post.
 Also others on Mar 27 & 28.
 Cuttack:

(1) 2 Aust obstn machines, photogrs., were attd by 6 Gs.
(2) The Austs fired & cleared, thought they put down a Germ.
(3) But Sqn of Camels was now engaged w G. triplanes. We think
we have shot down 4
 Bean. The officer standing by told me he clearly saw / fragments of wood
or metal flicked from / machine when / burst ws fired.
 Rawl's message
808. 21.  Follg from Genl Rawlinson. "Please convey to the 53^rd Bty  5^th Div my
best thanks & congratulations on having brt down / celebrd German
aviator Richthofen".
 Aust Corps.
Copy ws sent to Buie. 

27e
 Capt RL Forsyth ^13 F Amb & AAMC 52 Bn
After about a week of this (at Vadincourt) an advance party
went up to Corbie where they endured awful hardships! The
machinegun fire was incessant - our boys would use them to
shoot pigeons. They had nothing to drink but Baune & Champagne &
no food except their rations & pigs, ducks & fish.

E C Adams Rly Stn Rivervale 1.1.28. Capt. OC. D Coy 44 Bn in reserve betw Heilly & Vaux nr Brick Works
"The machine did not crash badly nor was it smashed to
pieces. The pilot appeared to have bn dead before landing, nor
ws his body in any way disfigured. The plane ws
practly intact when it landed until / German arty opened fire,
& shelled it & / tps, who rushed madly from all directns to /
scene o / landing."
 "Both machines were flying low manoeuvring for positn;
/ British plane being above & to / rear o / German plane & was
firing his machine gun at / German plane wh ws painted
a bright red colour _x & known as the - - - - - - - The German pilot
appeared to shut off his engine & vol plane down landing in
J 19 B 50. 25."
Adams mtd guard over / 'plane.

A Siglr of 3 Div Sig Co. 39 Sherwood Rd Ivanhoe N 21 Melb
attd 8 Field Arty Bde H.Q.
Lt Floyd Gibbons. A rather florid descriptn - says how May
dodged.
"There were at last 2 dozen L. Gs. potting at him from / grd.
In additn to our Hqrs whose office ws in a chalk pit in
tt wood, one of Col. Tivey's Bde bns ws bivouacked in /
back positn of it (we were up in /  front) & just over / crest
o / hill were / arty who also had LGs mounted for
Anti-aircraft work. R. made a splendid target fly being
so low".
[* "When May zoomed
Richthofen let him go
& swung east at [[? L]] rt &
towds a "flying fox" . . . ; by
so doing he flew parallel
to those arty LGs. After
going abt 50^x or so he
swung N again to go home
Etc. . . . 
Tells [[Gibbon?]] his book isnt true
"We all felt sorry tt R.
ws killed in / manner he was.*]

Under strict ords not to leave wood in daylight but
"without thinking of tt, Bree, Buck Mazzorel, &
myself dashed over to / 'plane not 50 yds away.
We of coarse didn't know who it ws but we saw he
ws dead so lifted him out & laid him on / grass."
The tps got souvenirs - "but it ws then found out
who he was & the Padre o / 8^th Field Arty Bde
collected them all from / souvenir Kings . . . . We got /
propellor & cut it up."
 Rs body ws put under a blanket by / battery lines
& ws got at night by a pty of air mechanics, w
a rope. (? No need).
 "By / time we got / propellor off, an offr of Tivey's crowd
arrived - " & chased us away." 

28
 9430.
 14 October 1935.
 Captain A. Roy Brown, D.S.C.,
President,
General Airways Limited,
406, Bank of Hamilton Building,
67, Yonge Street,
Toronto, Canada.

Dear Captain Brown,

Many thanks for your letter of May 13th last.  I
have your account of your fight with Richthofen, published in
the Chicago "Sunday Tribune" on 22 April 1928, and I should be
grateful if you would let me know whether the narrative there
is as you gave it to the paper, and literally accurate.  I
know that these articles are sometimes "ghosted", and that the
supposed author is unwittingly misrepresented.

If it does represent precisely what you said, it gives
rise to certain difficulties.  The chief of these is that,
after you had ceased firing at him, Richthofen undoubtedly flew
for a considerable distance stiIl firing at May.  This was the
only part of the fight that most of the Australian witnesses
saw, although some who caught sight of it earlier saw your
'plane also.  I should therefore be grateful if you would let
me know whether you are still convinced that Richthofen was
dead when you finished firing.  It would be a help if you could
let me have your answer as soon as conveniently possible.

No doubt you will have realised long before this that
the Australians were perfectly genuine when they said they saw
only two machines in the fight.  I have the narratives of
scores of them, some of them my own friends, who only saw the
two 'planes - that is, they caught sight of the fight after
you had finished firing.

Yours faithfully,
C.E.W. Bean
Official Historian. 

29

GENERAL AIRWAYS LIMITED
PRESIDENT A.ROY BROWN
406 Bank of Hamilton Bldg.,
67 Yonge Street,
Toronto, Ontario,
November 7, 1935.
 Mr. C.E.W. Bean,
Official Historian,
Commonwealth of Australia,
Victoria Barracks,
Paddington, N.S. Wales.
Dear Sir:-
 In reply to your letter of October 14th,
I never read the account referred to by you of my fight
with Richthofen published in the Chicago "Sunday Tribune",
for that reason it is impossible for me to state how accurate
or inaccurate it may have been.

No doubt in your position you have, or have
access to, the official history of the activities of the
Royal Air Force during the War 1914 - 1918.  If you will
refer to these you will find the official record there of
the fight with Richthofen when he was killed.  I would
think that probably this record would be more satisfactory
for your purpose than anything I might say to you.

Yours truly,
A. Roy Brown
A. Roy Brown.

ARB/PGP 

30
 Tyalgum
16. 10. 35
C. E. W. Bean Esqr
Dear Sir
In reply to your request
dated the 14^th oct I have made out a sketch
of sorts as the incident appeared to me at the time
The planes would be travelling in a north
eastely direction straight towards my gun
position.  I opened fire immediately the
british plane left my gun sights and
followed the fritz around he would be
perhaps 100 to 120 yds in front of me 

30a
 when I opened fire and about 200 to 400
feet in the air he would be below [*30a*]
the top of the ridge which is about
500 to 600 feet high  I opened fire the
second time at the peak of his
turn marked X  I dont think I was
firing so long the second time as the first
I would be firing at him the second time
while he was travelling the line between the
two Crosses
I would be firing about a ½ to ¾ a minute
each time 

30b

I reached the plane just when they
were about to place a guard on
it
A Chap named Marshall my No 3 on the
gun at the time and who was afterwards
Killed got a bullet off Richthofen's
body which had just penetrated his
clothes and half sticking in his skin
right on his belt line

Yours Faithfully
CB Popkin