March 26, 1918
Air War:
0725 Canadian RNAS ace Fred Banbury, flying Sopwith Camel B7247, shoots down a German two-seater for victory number 11.
(Banbury's record states that Oliver Redgate and Merrill Taylor were also in on this kill. Neither of their records show anything for this date.)
1125 Scottish RFC ace John Gilmour, in Sopwith Camel B5612, shoots down a German two-seater for victory number 12.
1415 English RFC pilot John Albart Edward Robertson Daley, in SE.5a B79, shoots down an unnamed German fighter for victory number 1.
1645 German ace Manfred von Richthofen, in Fokker Dr.I 477/17, shoots down SE.5a B511 for victory number 68. 2nd Lt Allan McNab Denovan is listed as Missing.
Quote:
"Flying with five gentlemen of Jasta 11, at low level, I enountered a Sopwith (sic) single-seater at the Front, with Leutnant Udet. At first the adversary tried to escape me by skilful flying. From a distance not more than the length of a plane, I shot him down in flames. During the fall it disintegrated. The fuselage crashed into the small wood of Contalmaison."
-Manfred von Richthofen
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1700 German pilot Siegfried Gussmann, in a Fokker Dr.I, shoots down a Sopwith Camel for victory number 4.
1700 Canadian RNAS pilot Charles Hickey, flying Sopwith Camel B3892, claims two Pfalz D.IIIs for victories number 3 and 4.
1700 Canadian RNAS ace Ronald Kierstead, in Sopwith Camel N6389, claims three Pfalz D.IIIs for victories 9, 10 and 11.
1700 Manfred von Richthofen scores his second kill of the day, shooting down RE.8 B742 for victory number 70. 2nd Lts Vernon Jack Readin and Matthew Leggat are both listed as Missing.
Quote:
"A quarter of an hour after my first victory on this day, I detected in exactly the same spot, at an altitude of 700 metres, an RE two-seater. I went into a dive behind it, and from close range I fired abut 100 rounds, and set him on fire. At first the Englishman defended himself with his observer's machine gun. The plane burned in the air until impact. Half an hour later, the machine continued to burn on the ground."
-Manfred von Richthofen
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1700 German pilot Claus Riemer, with Jasta 26, shoots down a Sopwith Dolphin for victory number 1.
(Jasta 26 began recieving Fokker Dr.Is late this month, it is uncertain whether any individual pilot was flying them yet.)
1710 Australian RFC pilot Harry Rigby, in SE.5a B4851, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 2.
1714 German pilot Richard Plange, in Fokker Dr.I 204/17, shoots down a Sopwith Dolphin for victory number 4.
1720 German ace Otto Fruhner, flying with Jasta 26, shoots down an SE.5a for victory number 9.
1730 English RFC pilot Herbert Ruska Gould, in DH.4 A7989 with Lt J.M. Brisbane as observer, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 1.
1730 German pilot Helmut Lange, with Jasta 26, shoots down s Sopwith Dolphin for victory number 1.
1745 German ace Otto Esswein, with Jasta 26, shoots down a Sopwith Dolphin for victory number 10.
German pilot Eduard Blass, with MFJ II, shoots down a Sopwith Camel for victory number 1.
German pilot Erich Bruder, flying with Jasta 26, shoots down an RE.8 for victory number 1.
French ace Hector Garaud, in a SPAD, shoots down Rumpler C.VII 6484/17 for victory number 12. The crew are unnamed but the note says they were taken prisonder.
German pilot Hans Groth (1 victory) is shot down and taken prisoner while attacking a balloon.
Canadian RFC pilot Ernest Thomas Morrow and English observer Horace Merritt, in Bristol F.2b B1302, shoot down an "Enemy Aircraft". Victory number 1 for Morrow; number 3 for Merritt.
English RFC pilot Douglas Alfred Savage and observer Louis Mark Thompson, in a Bristol F.2b, shoot down an "Enemy Aircraft". Victory number 1 for both.