WWI Silent Film Showing Manfred von Richthofen and his Fokker Tri-Plane

[Jack Flash]

Amazing to see this 100+ years later.
Shamelessly purloined from another website:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIiuyijwKRs&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

 

[raljr1]

very neat. thanks for sharing. Hard to believe he was finally stopped by a 30 caliber bullet that they say was fired by a rifle an on the ground. I saw a recreation of it on the history channel where they showed it was possible. A marksman recreated the scenario and hit the moving Target.

 

[the ringo kid]

Great find, and I see this film was taken before he earned his Pour Le Merite too! BTW, i'd love to have owned his Fokker's wooden propeller and wooden wheels too.

 

[CajunBass]

Thanks for posting that. I appreciate it.

 

[Jack Flash]

very neat. thanks for sharing. Hard to believe he was finally stopped by a 30 caliber bullet that they say was fired by a rifle an on the ground. I saw a recreation of it on the history channel where they showed it was possible. A marksman recreated the scenario and hit the moving Target.

IIRC, a lot of rifles and machine guns were firing at his plane from the ground, as well as the machine guns on Roy Brown's Sopwith Camel.

 

[Kurusu]

Great find, and I see this film was taken before he earned his Pour Le Merite too! BTW, i'd love to have owned his Fokker's wooden propeller and wooden wheels too.

Bad news. The wheels were not wooden in those planes, they were spoke wheels but had fairings to cover.

And he already had earned the Pour Le Merite, received in January 1917. The first flight of the Fokker Dr.l was in July 1917

 

[JayFramer]

Bring back the triplanes!!!

 

[Kurusu]

For those who might doubt.

 

[fordson]

Many thanks for the film clip. Where did you find this?

 

[Jack Flash]

This clip is on YouTube. I saw it posted on the SIGForum.

 

[onebadvet]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Chuck24]

Amazing seeing those old engines where the cylinders turn as well.

 

[Coot47]

"...yah, but dem fokkers bin flyink Messerschmidts".

 

[rwsmith]

Yeah, the bullet...

very neat. thanks for sharing. Hard to believe he was finally stopped by a 30 caliber bullet that they say was fired by a rifle an on the ground. I saw a recreation of it on the history channel where they showed it was possible. A marksman recreated the scenario and hit the moving Target.

The bullet that killed him entered his right side and traveled left. No way Roy Brown in his plane BEHIND the Baron could have made that shot. Plus the fact that Richthofen was doing what he said never to do. Fly low and slow over ground troops. They pinned the fatal shot on a nest some distance on his right because of the shallow angle of the bullet rather than the nest he flew over.

Anyway, it's cool as the dickens to see him in a MOVIE. Where has this been hiding? I'm 63 and this is the first time I've seen that he was a real, living, breathing person. Up until the time he lost his focus.

Also, in spite of research done in by the Royal Guardsmen and published in their song lyrics of 1966, No one can substantiate that Snoopy was anywhere near the area.

 

[fordson]

This clip is on YouTube. I saw it posted on the SIGForum.

Well, thanks again. This is the kind of stuff on YouTube that going to make a boycott hard once they pull out all the firearm videos. Darn it.........

 

[Absalom]

You realize what an unusual find this footage is if you look through the Youtube comments and see the posts from various museum curators asking permission from the original uploader to use the video clip in their WW I displays

 

[Kurusu]

Amazing seeing those old engines where the cylinders turn as well.

Technically it's the whole engine that is turning.

 

[JayFramer]

"TATATATAT!! TATATAT!! MEEEEERRROWWW!!! TATATATAT!!!"

 

[jaymoore]

For those who might doubt.

The old Hasegawa kit?

Got to be ground crew for a rotary engine Dr.I replica back in 1996. Surprisingly easy to pick up and maneuver about on the ground.

Also flat out the tightest turning aircraft I've ever seen in flight, at least in one direction! The pilot could just about do a 180 degree flat turn in the length of the A/C due to the gyroscopic effect of the rotary engine. Absolutely freakish to see.

 

[jaymoore]

The first flight of the Fokker Dr.l was in July 1917

If we use the European dating system then the film clip would date from early September. Fresh off the Fokker factory floor, almost.