Richthofen vs. Hawker — The Greatest Air Duel of World War I

ILLUSTRATIONS: (1) German ace Manfred von Richthofen stalks 20 Sqdn. ace Lanoe Hawker.

COL Tim Whalen SPC William Wilson LTC David Brown LTC Marshall Townsend II SSG William Jones CPT Jack Durish CPL Douglas Chrysler SGT Steve McFarland SCPO Morris Ramsey Sgt Albert Castro CPL Ronald Keyes Jr LCpl Dana Paulsen LTC Trent Klug SPC Woody Bullard SSgt (Join to see) LTC (Join to see) LTC (Join to see) SGT James Murphy SSG Miguel Ángel Rivas PO1 Mark Koenig

So much controversy around this.

I was wondering if someone was going to mention Werner Voss or catch the Albatros ID error. Voss was a much better pilot than Richthofen who preferred to come in out of the sun, get as close as possible and got off a short burst that was a sure kill. Werner Voss was a true fighter pilot.
Lanoe Hawker was one too, but as noted, he was in an inferior machine, both aerodynamically and engine wise. It's been a veeeeery long time since I did any reading on the air war in WW 1. Before I went into the Army, almost 60 years ago. Might be time to do some refresher work.
The airplanes of the day had no self sealing gas tanks or armor plate. You got hit and caught fire you had 2 choices, burn or jump. For most of the war there were no chutes for pilots. Even later in the war when a few chutes were available, few used them.