"A member of the German Bahnschutzwache, or Railway Protection Guard, shoots down the well-known French airman Roland Garros in his flight over German positions in Flanders, France, on a bombing raid."
I've tracked this statement through several websites, which was easy because they all quote it verbatim. What I haven't found is who wrote it first, or any corroborating original document. it seems to be one of those internet things that gets copied from place to place without anyone ever checking it.
There are a couple of sources that say Garros was brought down by ground fire, but others simply say that a clogged fuel line was the culprit. Whatever the cause, the Morane parasol fell into the hands of Idflieg, who then invited all the major manufacturers to copy or improve upon Garros' deflector plate system. It was eventually the Fokker corporation who came up with the first working interrupter gear, applying them to their existing M.5 monoplanes to create the legendary eindekkers.
More on this here and in the '100 Years' thread when the time comes.
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