Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen / Red Baron's final battle

France / Picardie / Bonnay /
 place with historical importance, First World War 1914-1918, historical layer / disappeared object

Site of final battle of Manfred Freiherr of Richthofen (1892-1918) who died here of the noon 21st April, 1918. He was the most successful fighter pilot of the First World War - a knight of the air. Air battle commenced at the southeast and progressed to the northwest, with Richthofen crashing at the site of the smaller polygon inside this one.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   49°55'36"N   2°33'38"E

Comments

  • I've moved this from its original location at 49 56 0.60 N, 2 3243.71 E, which is about 585m to the east-northeast, because most sources say that the crash (actually a mostly-controlled landing) took place south of the road and there's a roadside historical marker on the south side of the road just north of the north edge of this polygon (at 49.9322285, 2.5372034), which can be read at http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15287081 which says that it happened in this area.
  • Oops, left out a space in the original location of this polygon. Should have been 49 56 0.60 N 2 32 43.71 E.
  • Please disregard the last two comments; they were intended for the smaller polygon inside this one.
  • I've resized the polygon to indicate the actual battle area based on the second image from http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/comment/richt.htm.
This article was last modified 11 years ago