April 21, 1918
Air War:
0700 English RAF observer Charles Philip Harrison, riding in DH.9 C6108 with Lt A.M. Phillips as pilot, shoots down a Fokker Dr.I for victory number 1.
0715 English RAF ace Reginald Maxwell, in Sopwith Camel D6587, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 6.
0815 Four French SPAD pilots share a victory over a German two-seater:
Jean Bozon-Verduraz, victory number 5.
S/Lt Duret, victory number 2.
Adj Mion, victory number 3.
MdL Ouvard de Linière, victory number 1.
0840 German pilot Otto Wandelt, with Jasta 43, shoots down RE.8 C5037 for victory number 2. Lt E.H.N. Stroud and Capt C.G. White are both killed.
1025 Three RAF Sopwith Camel pilots share a victory over an Albatros two-seater:
Robert Foster, England, B3858, victory number 2.
Oliver LeBoutillier, United States, D3338, victory number 5.
Merrill Taylor, Canada, B7200, victory number 2.
1100 Canadian RAF ace Roy Brown, flying Sopwith Cameo B7270, is credited with shooting down Fokker Dr.I 425/17 for victory number 10. German 80-victory ace Manfred von Richthofen is killed. This is Brown's last victory claim. Nine days after this fight he was admitted to the hospital with influenza. In July he will suffer a crash that will put him back in the hospital for five months. Brown will leave the RAF in 1919 and return home to Canada, where he will found a small airline called General Airways Limited in 1928. Arthur Roy Brown will live until 1944 when he suffers a fatal heart attack at age fifty.
(as with almost every single famous ace of the First World War, von Richthofen's death is surrounded by
controversy.)
1100 English ace pilot Douglas Cooke and Irish observer henry Crowe, in Bristol F.2b C4749, shoot down an Albatros D.V. Victory number 7 for Cooke, number 5 for Crowe.
1100 German pilot Carl Degelow, with Jasta 7, shoots down a Sopwith Camel for victory number 3.
1100 Canadian RAF ace Donald MacLaren, in Sopwith Camel B9153, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 16.
1100 English RAF pilot Francis Mellersh, in Sopwith Camel B6257, shoots down a Fokker Dr.I for victory number 4.
1115 Two RAF SE.5a pilots share a victory over a DFW C.V:
Acheson Goulding, Canada, B690, victory number 4.
Leslie Hamilton, England, B694, victory number 1.
1115 German ace Josef Jacops, in an Albatros D.V, shoots down a Sopwith Camel for victory number 14.
1140 German pilot Fritz Thiede, with Jasta 24, shoost down a SPAD for victory number 1.
1150 German ace Ulrich Neckel, with Jasta 12, shoots down a Bréguet 14 for victory number 10. Mdl David de Conflans and Asp Millardet are listed as Missing.
1200 Two Canadian RAF Camel pilots share a victory over a Rumpler two-seater:
Charles Hickey, B6350, victory number 5.
Ronald Keirstead, N6389, victory number 12.
1230 German pilot Rudolf Abt, flying with Jasta 69, shoots down a SPAD for his only victory.
1230 German ace Julius Buckler, in an Alobatros D.Va, shoots down a Bréguet 14 for victory number 32. There was only one Bréguet lost this day, also attributed earlier to Neckel.
1350 German ace Karl Gallwitz, in Fokker Dr.I 212/17, shoots down Sopwith Camel D6959 for victory number 10. Lt C.J. Mason is killed.
1400 Canadian RAF pilot John De Pencier, in Sopwith Dolphin C4019, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 4.
1530 German pilot Uffz Glatz (no first name given), with Jasta 18, shoots down a SPAD for his only victory.
1625 German pilot Friedrich Ehmann, flying with Jasta 47, shoots down SE.5a D269 for victory number 5. Lt C.E.L. Skeddon lands on his own side of the lines.
1720 German ace Walter Blume, with Jasta 9, shoots down a SPAD VII for victory number 7.
1725 German pilot Herbert Rolle, with Jasta 9, shoots down a SPAD VII for victory number 2.
1725 German pilot Ltn Bitsch (no first name given), shoots down a SPAD VII for his only victory. French Sgt Paul Marie, in S.VII 5404, and American Cpl Donald E. Stone, in S.VII 5358, are both killed when they collide trying to avoid the fire from several German planes. Several other French SPAD pilots are reported killed or missing this day.
1915 Canadian RAF ace Albert Carter, in Sopwith Dolphin C4017, shoots down a Pfalz D.III for victory number 21.
1915 English RAF pilot John Arthur Aldridge, in Sopwith Dolphin C3833, shoots down a Pfalz D.III for victory number 1.
1915 Canadian RAF pilot Gordon Irving, flying Sopwith Dolphin C3799, shoots down a Pfalz D.III for victory number 2.
1925 German pilot Kurt Legel, with Jasta 52, shoots down an SE.5a for victory number 2.
2000 Irish RAF pilot William Cairnes, in an SE.5a, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 5.
French pilot S/Lt Brussaux and observer Lt Mognot, in a Sopwith 1½ Strutter, shoot down and Albatros D.V. Victory number 1 for both. This is possibly Ltn Rudolf Abt of Jasta 69, taken prisoner after scoring his first and only victory earlier in the day.
Two French SPAD pilots share a victory over a Pfalz D.III:
Jean Chaput, victory number 16.
Pierre Wertheim, victory number 4.
Four French SPAD pilots share a victory over an "Enemy Aircraft". This is possibly Ltns Otto Sille and Willibald Richter of FlAbt 223, both killed in this area:
Marius Hasdenteufel, victory number 4.
Lt Jochaux du Plessis, victory number 2.
André Petit-Delchet, victory number 1.
Pierre Le Roy de Boiseaumarie, victory number 3.
Two French SPAD pilots share a victory over a German two-seater. This is possibly Gefrs August Penske and Johannes Straub of Schlasta 33, both killed in this area:
Jacques Gerared, SPAD VII 4236. victory number 3.
MdL Lienhard, victory number 3.
German pilot Uffz Hess (no first name given), with Jasta 60, shoots down an SE.5a for victory number 2.
German pilot Erich Sonneck, with Jasta 66, shoots down a SPAD for victory number 1.
German pilot Paul Turck, with Jasta 66, shoots down a SPAD for victory number 1.
German ace Rudolf Windisch, flying with Jasta 66, shoots down two SPADs for victories number 16 and 17.
German ace Wilhelm Zorn, with Jasta 60, shoots down a French Sopwith 1½ Strutter for victory number 6. Cpl Lafarge is killed; S/Lt Ponsard is wounded and taken prisoner.
Wilhelm Zorn scores his second kill of the day, shooting down an SE.5a for victory number 7.