Purpose

All of Manfred's battles were somewhat alike. Either he went up to find the enemy, waited for the enemy to come, or he met them by accident.

This battle is about him meeting his enemy by accident. This was one of his first battles. Manfred and his pilot Zeumer took off in their Apple barge on September 1. Manfred was still on observer at this time. They spotted a Royal Flying Corps plane. Manfred signaled to Zeumer to go at it. The two planes went past each other at 100 yards. Manfred shot with his rifle at the Flying Corps plane four times. It didn't hit him, it just warned him of his presence. The two planes started flying around each other; Manfred never got close enough to the plane to shoot.

Manfred went up on September 17 as a pilot. Bokie in the lead, in search of the enemy. Twenty minutes later they saw six FE2 Scouts and eight BE2 Bombers. Bolkie signaled to climb slowly behind them. He did not attack. He wanted to let them go to their destination, because their fuel would be low and they would be facing a powerful wind. They dropped bombs on the railway station and then dove on the British. They were taken completely by surprise. Manfred went after a plane he thought was a Vickers Fighter. When Manfred got up to fifty yards he shot. He was stunned when the observer returned his fire. The two men in the aircraft were skilled fighters. When he was about to shoot the FE2 rolled away. Manfred dove into a cloud, circled and came out at a lower altitude. The FE2 was close but was not aware of his presence. He tried to fly under the FE2, he eased the nose up and raked the bottom of the aircraft with bullets. The propeller stopped. After it was grounded, he landed next to it and lifted the bullet riddled observer and pilot out and took a part of the plane for a souvenir. For all the eighty planes that he shot down, he kept part of the plane and gave himself a silver cup until silver was too hard to find. Manfred was recognized for his ability to shoot down eighty planes in his lifetime.