Cedric Popkin
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Cedric Bassett Popkin (1891-January 1968) is considered the person most likely to have killed German ace Manfred von Richthofen — also known as the "Red Baron" — on April 21, 1918. Popkin was an anti-aircraft (AA) machine gunner with the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF), during World War I.
Popkin was born in Sydney and was a carpenter by trade. When he enlisted in the AIF, in Brisbane in May 1916, he was living in Palmwoods, Queensland.
By April 1918, Popkin — who had already achieved the rank of Sergeant — was a gunner in the 24th Machine Gun Company, part of the Australian 4th Division, which was stationed in the Somme Valley, France.
At about 10:35 a.m. on April 21, Richthofen, flying his famous red Fokker Dr.I, engaged Sopwith Camels from 209 Squadron, Royal Air Force (RAF). He pursued a Camel piloted by a Canadian, Lt Wilfrid May. In turn the baron was chased by another Canadian pilot, Capt. Roy Brown. The three planes flew over Morlancourt Ridge, in the 4th Division's sector, and Popkin — using a Vickers machine gun — and other Australian machine gunners and riflemen also fired at Richthofen. The baron was hit by a 0.303 calibre bullet which passed diagonally from right to left through his chest. He then made a hasty but controlled landing, in a field on a hill near the Bray-Corbie road, just north of Vaux-sur-Somme. His Fokker was not damaged by the landing. One account claims that the baron died a few moments after Allied soldiers reached the plane, and that before he died, von Richthofen said a few words including "kaputt" ("broken"). Most authorities, however, believe that he was already dead or unconscious by that time.
The identity of the person who shot the baron remains unknown; 0.303 ammunition was the standard ammunition for all machine guns and rifles used by British Empire forces during World War I. However, many experts believe that the shot probably came from Popkin.[1] It is now considered all but certain by historians, doctors, and ballistics experts that von Richthofen was killed by an AA machine gunner, for a number of reasons. Autopsies revealed that the wound which killed the baron was caused by a bullet moving in an upward motion. It was reported that a spent .303 bullet was found inside Richthofen's clothing. These facts, and the angle at which the bullet passed through Richthofen's body, suggest that he was killed by a long distance, low velocity shot from a ground-based weapon. Many Australian riflemen were also shooting at the baron at the time, so one of them may have fired the fatal shot. However, Popkin was an experienced AA gunner, the volume of fire from the Vickers was far greater (at least 450 rounds per minute) than the bolt-action Lee-Enfield rifles (up to 30 rounds per minute) used by the infantry, and Popkin was the only machine gunner known to have fired at Richthofen from the right, and from a long distance, immediately before he landed.
The RAF gave official credit to Brown. However, it has been calculated that Richthofen would have lived for only 20-30 seconds after he was hit — due to the severity of his wound — and Brown did not fire at him within that time frame.
After returning from the war, Popkin returned to Australia and worked once more as a carpenter. He spent most of the remainder of his life in Tweed Heads and the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. He is buried in Brisbane.
In 1964, Popkin told the Brisbane Courier-Mail: "I am fairly certain it was my fire which caused the Baron to crash[,] but it would be impossible to say definitely that I was responsible ... As to pinpointing without doubt the man who fired the fatal shot[,] the controversy will never actually be resolved."[2]
