September 3, 1917
Air War:
0725 Canadian RNAS ace Lloyd Breadner, flying Sopwith Camel B3782, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 8.
0730 Lloyd Breadner scores his second kill of the day, shooting down another Albatros D.V for victory number 9.
0730 English RNAS pilot William Hargrove Chisam, in Sopwith Camel B3909, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 1.
0730 German ace Eberhard Mohnicke, in an Albatros D.V, shoots down Sopwith Pup B1754 for victory number 6. Lt K.W. McDonald is wounded and taken prisoner.
0735 German ace Manfred von Richthofen, in Fokker F.I 102/17, shoots down Sopwith Pup B1795 for victory number 61. Lt Algernon Frederick Bird is taken prisoner.
Quote:
Along with five planes of Staffel 11, while engaged in a fight with a Sopwith single-seater, I attacked, at a height of 3,500 metres, one of the enemy machines. After a fairly long dogfight, I forced him to land near Bousbecque. I was absolutely convinced I had a very skillful pilot in front of me, who even at an altitude of 50 metres did not give up, but fired again, and opened fire on a column of troops while flattening out, then deliberately ran his machine into a tree.
The Fokker Triplane F.I No. 102/17 was absolutely superior to the British Sopwith.
-Manfred von Richthofen
|
0815 Canadian RFC pilot Robert Dodds and English observer Thomas Tuffield, flying Bristol F.2b A7222, shoot down two Albatros D.IIIs. Victories number 3 and 4 for both. One of these is German 7-victory ace Otto Hartmann, who is killed.
0825 German ace Paul Billik, in an Albatros D.V, shoots down a Sopwith Camel for victory number 6.
0830 German ace Walter von Bülow-Bothkamp, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down a Sopwith Camel for victory number 18.
0830 German ace Kurt Wüsthoff, in an Albatros D.V, shoots down Sopwith Pup A7333 for victory number 8.
0900 German ace Hermann Göring, in Albatros D.V 4424/17, claims a two-seater shot down near Lampernisse. Göring and six others from Jasta 27 did engage two separate flights of SPADS, but none of these seem to have been two-seaters and none were shot down. A DH.4 was attacked that day, but it got home safely. As with so many other claims, what actually happened may never be known.
0940 Canadian RFC pilot Conrad Lally and English AFC observer Basil Blackett, flying DH.4 A7477, shoot down an Albatros D.V. Victory number 4 for Lally, number 2 for Blackett. Blackett, though born in England, is listed as Australian Flying Corps.
0952 German ace Werner Voss, in the other new Fokker Triplane, F.I 103/17, shoots down Sopwith Camel 3917 for victory number 39. Lt Aubrey Talley Heywood is killed.
0955 German pilot Karl Hammes, in Albatros D.V 2336/17, shoots down a Sopwith Triplane for victory number 3.
1005 German pilot Carl-August von Schönebeck, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down a Sopwith Triplane for victory number 3.
1030 German pilot Eberhard von Stapenhorst, in an Albatros D.V, shoots down a Sopwith Triplane for victory number 2.
1040 German pilot Hans Hoyer, flying an Albatros D.III, shoots down an RE.8 for victory number 2.
1100 German pilot Theodor Quandt, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down a "Rumpf DD" (Fighter) for victory number 4.
1130 German pilot Otto Fruhner, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down Sopwith Pup A7333 for victory number 1. Lt S. Williams is taken prisoner.
1210 German ace Kurt-Bertram von Döring, in an Albatros D.V, shoots down an RE.8 for victory number 6.
1310 English RFC pilot Edward Clarke, in Sopwith Camel B2327, shoots down an Albatros D.III for victory number 2.
1600 Otto Fruhner scores his second victory of the day, shooting down a Sopwith Camel for number 2 overall.
1710 Kurt Wüsthoff gets his second for the day, downing an RE.8 for number 9 overall.
1730 German ace Eduard von Schleich, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down a Dorand A.2 for victory number 9.
1730 German pilot Karl Thom, in an Albatros D.III, shoots down a Caudron for victory number 2.
1735 Eduard von Schleich scores his second victory of the day, bringing down a SPAD for number 10.
1830 Four RNAS Camel pilots share a victory over an Albatros D.V:
Joseph Fall, Canada, B3898, victory number 14.
Sub-Lt J.E. Scott, unknown, B3907, unknown.
Harold Stackard, England, B6204, number 4.
Arthur William Wood, England, B3884, number 1.
1930 Conrad Lally and Basil Blackett score their second victory of the day, shooting down an Albatros D.V. Number 5 for Lally and number 3 for Blackett. This is Conrad Lally's last aerial victory. He will survive the war, being wounded and spending 10 months recovering. In 1923 Lally became the town of Wainwright, Alberta, Canada's first postmaster. He will remain in that post until he dies in August 1941.
1950 German ace Hans von Adam, in an Albatros D.V, shoots down Nieuport 17 B1582 for victory number 14. 2nd Lt C. Pickstone is killed.
2000 German pilot Oskar von Boenigk, in an Albatros D.V, shoots down a Sopwith Camel for victory number 4.