[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Von Due

And if you thought bandits at 6 o'clock meant there was time for tea and bisquits before the shooting then you probably wouldn't know how to operate a sling shot let alone a machine gun and bomb sights were right out of the question, and you were probably put inside an aircraft by mistake.

The master himself, actually a handpicked protégé of Boelke and his timeless 'Dicta', #3 ''Open fire only at close range, and then only when the opponent is squarely in your sights''; #5: "In any type of attack, it is essential to assail your opponent from behind" said it best:

Originally Posted by Von Richthofen

"The Murder of a man is still murder, even in wartime" (Best done 'Hunning" out of the sun or on the enemy's six) and "The quality of the box (aircraft?) matters little. Success depends on the man who sits in it." "Everything in the air that is beneath me, especially if it is a one seater...is lost, for it cannot shoot to the rear" “I never get into an aircraft for fun,” Manfred von Richthofen once wrote. “I aim first for the head of the pilot, or rather at the head of the observer, if there is one.” It was a maxim that the German aviator followed with ruthless precision. Rather than engaging in airborne acrobatics or risky dogfights, he preferred to patiently stalk his enemies, swoop down from high altitude and then blast them out of the sky with pinpoint bursts of machine gun fire. “There is no art in shooting down an aeroplane,” “The thing is done by the personality or by the fighting determination of the airman.”

IMHO heads can only be hit up close from the six o'clock position-his record speaks for itself. His classic victory against ACE Lanoe Hawker (victory#11) a case in point:

Hawker chose his target. As luck would have it, it was Richthofen’s Albatros D.II. He dove at the Albatros from behind, getting off a five-round burst that missed when Richthofen cut sharply left. Hawker followed him into the turn. The equally matched pilots began a frantic, spinning chase as each tried to outturn the other and maneuver into position for a clear shot. Their tight circle, less than 300 feet in diameter, slowly descended from an altitude of almost 10,000 feet to nearly treetop level.
Hawker was now at a disadvantage. Dangerously low on the German side of the lines, he knew he would be hit from the ground or forced to land if he did not end the battle quickly. A succession of loops, which Richthofen’s less-creative fly style could not match, placed Hawker in a position to get off another burst that came close, but missed the Baron’s plane. Losing his chance, Hawker turned and bolted for his side of the lines with Richthofen in pursuit.
With both the Baron and the ground closing in on him,Hawker zigzagged at high speed to stay out of the line of fire. He was nearly saved when Richthofen’s first burst jammed his gun. The jam quickly cleared, however, and with his second burst Richthofen shot Hawker through the back of the head. His DH-2 pitched up and then nosed into the ground, just 50 yards short of the German front-line trenches.

The 'box' didn't matter; persistence, direct tactics and a close shot to the head from the six did...