August 16, 1917
Air War:
0610 English RFC pilot Lovell Dickens Baker, flying SPAD VII B1530, shoots down an Albatros D.III for victory number 1.
0700 Canadian RNAS pilot Stanley Rosevear, in Sopwith Triplane N6299, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 2.
0725 German pilot Alfred Träger, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down an RE.8 for victory number 3.
0725 German pilot Rudolf Wendelmuth, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down an RE.8 for victory number 3.
0755 German ace Manfred von Richthofen, on his first patrol since receiving his severe head wound on July 6, in Albatros D.V 2059/17, shoots down RFC Nieuport 23 for victory number 58. 2nd Lt William Harold Trant Williams is severely wounded and taken prisoner. He will die six days later, on August 22. Von Richthofen is suffering from dizzyness and nausea, and returns to his base immediately following the combat.
Quote:
"At about 0755, accompanied by four aircraft of Staffel 11, I pusued a small flight of Nieuports. After a long chase, I attacked an opponent and after a short fight I shot up his engine and fuel tank. The aeroplane went into a tail spin. I followed right after it until just above the ground, gave it one more shot, so that the aeroplane crased south-west of Houthulst Forest and went right into the ground. As I was about 50 metres behind him, I passed through a cloud of gas from the explosion that made it hard to see for a brief moment."
-Manfred von Richthofen
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0930 English RFC pilot Arthur Gilbert Vivian Taylor, flying FE.2d A6456 with 2nd Lt M. Dodd as observer, shoots down an Albatros D.III for victory number 1.
0936 German ace Bruno Loerzer, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down a SPAD VII for victory number 6
1045 German pilot Kurt Schönfelder, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down a SPAD VII for victory number 2. Two French SPADs are lost this day - 1639, SLt Henri Rabatel taken prisoner and 21--, Cpl Marcel Cornet listed as Missing.
1120 German pilot Gisbert-Wilhelm Groos, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down Sopwith Triplane N6304 for victory number 4. Sub-Lt A.T. Gray is wounded and captured, later dies from his wounds.
1120 German pilot Johannes Klein, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down SPAD VII A6634 for victory number 1. Lt A.T. Shipwright is taken prisoner.
1145 English RFC ace pilot Harry Luchford and Scottish ace observer James Tennant, flying FE.2d A6448, shoot down an Albatros two-seater. Victory number 10 for Luchford, number 6 for Tennant.
1945 German ace Werner Voss, in an Albatros D.V, shoots down Sopwith Camel B3756 for victory number 37. English 14-victory ace Cpt Noel William Ward Webb's Camel disppears without a trace. Neither Webb nor his plane are ever found, and he is listed as Missing.
French ace René Fonck, in a SPAD VII, shoots down an Albatros two-seater for victory number 8.
(per French Air Service War Chronology. The Aerodrome has this as August 19.)
French ace Charles Nungesser, in a SPAD VII, shoots down a Gotha bomber for victory number 30.