Talk:Albert Ball

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I thought Albert Ball was killed by machine gunners placed in a clock tower which he frequently flew by to check the time when coming back from a dogfight.--Geedubber 11:40, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

There are many versions with regards to Ball's death. One is the machine gun story as you mentioned. An other is that Ball and Richthofen did indeed face eachother in Ball's final fight. Both planes went down after the dogfight, Ball died, Richthofen survived. Although Germany officially credited Lothar von Richthofen with downing Ball, there was little or no evidence to substantiate the claim.

Moments before Ball's plane crashed, a Leutnant Hailer, a German officer on the ground, witnessed Ball's undamaged aircraft emerge alone from the clouds, 200 feet above the ground in an inverted position with a dead prop. So most likely Ball encountered engine failure and simply crashed killing him. Nonentheless the Germans officially credited Lothar with Ball's killing so it should be mentioned but perhaps with a proviso as to the doubts.

Given the eye witness account, I personally, subscribe to the latter version - Ball engaged a German plane, got lost in the clouds and got disoriented, probably stalled and encountered engine trouble and then crashed... Why don't I subscribe to the machine gun theory? According to several sources, neither Ball's bodily remains nor the plane did show "battle damage" (in other words; bullet holes)... As to the identity of the German pilot... he was from Richthofen's flying circus... that's for sure but wether it was really Lothar is an other matter as some say that Lothar was recovering from battle wounds at the time of Ball's death and was thus inactive. --fdewaele 10 January 2006, 21:30 CET

okay thanks --Geedubber 20:43, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Request for Verification

Does anyone know what the anonymous user felt needed to be verified? Cjrother 20:29, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

• I don't know. I have removed the tag. The article seems fine to me as far as referencing goes. It seems consistent with his article in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article. Capitalistroadster 06:06, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Picture caption error

The aircraft behind ball in the photo captioned "... in front of his Nieuport 11" is not a Nieuport 11. The interplane struts on the Nieuport were V-shaped, not parallel as shown in the photo. The aircraft in the photo is also not any of the other types mentioned in the article as having been flown operationally by Ball, but I am not sure what it is. My best guess is a Caudron G.III. --August H.

I'm a bit dubious about that Caudron G.III identification. I've got a small pic in Encyclopedia of World Aircraft (edited by David Donald, Prospero Books, 1997) that shows a lateral strut from the interplane strut to the fuselage; it's not visible in the photo here, & should be. The one that is visible here runs the opposite direction, & isn't in EOWA's. Anybody got better pix? Or info that puts Ball in a G.III? Trekphiler 15:04, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

It is a Caudron G.III - probably at a training unit. Soundofmusicals 04:35, 5 October 2007 (UTC)