Editing Manfred von Richthofen (section)

===Debate over who fired the shot that killed Richthofen===
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Controversy and contradictory [[hypothesis|hypotheses]] continue to surround who actually fired the shot that killed Richthofen.
[[File:Arthur Roy Brown from imperial war museum.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Roy Brown (RAF officer)|Arthur Roy Brown]]]]
The [[RAF]] credited Brown with shooting down the Red Baron, but it is now generally agreed by historians, doctors, and ballistics experts that Richthofen was actually killed by an [[anti-aircraft]] (AA) machine gunner firing from the ground.<ref name="miller"/><ref name="channel4">
[https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150650976 ''Dogfight – The Mystery of the Red Baron''], Channel 4, ''[[Secret History (TV series)|Secret History]]'', 22 December 2003. US broadcast as [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/redbaron/ "Who Killed the Red Baron? Explore Competing Theories."] ''Pbs.org'', (Public Broadcasting Service) ''[[Nova (American TV series)|Nova]]'', 7 October 2003.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Richthofen|title=Richthofen - World War I Document Archive|website=wwi.lib.byu.edu}}</ref> A post mortem examination of the body showed the bullet that killed Richthofen penetrated from the right underarm and exited next to the left nipple. Brown's attack was probably from behind and above Richthofen's left. Even more conclusively, Richthofen could not have continued his pursuit of May for as long as he did (up to two minutes) had his wound come from Brown.<ref name="miller"/> Brown himself never spoke much about what happened that day,{{efn|Sensational accounts have been systematically discredited by several writers, even though they describe the attack in great detail and are allegedly given by Brown.}} claiming, "There is no point in me commenting, as the evidence is already out there."

[[File:24 MG Coy (AWM E01716).jpg|left|thumb|Officers and NCOs of the 24th Machine Gun Company in March 1918. Sergeant [[Cedric Popkin]] is second from the right in the middle row.]]
Many sources have suggested that Sergeant [[Cedric Popkin]] was the person most likely to have killed Richthofen, including a 1998 article by Geoffrey Miller, a physician, and historian of military medicine, and a 2002 edition of the British [[Channel 4]] ''[[Secret History (TV series)#Series 10|Secret History]]'' series.<ref name="miller"/><ref name="channel4"/> Popkin was an AA machine gunner with the Australian 24th Machine Gun Company, and he was using a [[Vickers machine gun|Vickers gun]]. He fired at Richthofen's aircraft on two occasions: first as the Baron was heading straight at his position, and then at long range from the plane's right. Given the nature of Richthofen's wounds, Popkin was in a position to fire the fatal shot when the pilot passed him for a second time.<ref name="miller"/><ref name="channel4"/> Some confusion has been caused by a letter that Popkin wrote in 1935 to an Australian official historian. It stated Popkin's belief that he had fired the fatal shot as Richthofen flew straight at his position. In this respect, Popkin was incorrect; the bullet which caused the Baron's death came from the side (see above).

{{anchor|Snowy Evans}} A 2002 [[Discovery Channel]] documentary suggests that Gunner W. J. "Snowy" Evans, a [[Lewis machine gun]]ner with the 53rd Battery, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, [[Royal Australian Artillery]] is likely to have killed von Richthofen.<ref name="unsolved"/> Miller and the ''Secret History'' documentary dismiss this theory because of the angle from which Evans fired at Richthofen.<ref name="miller"/><ref name="channel4"/>

Other sources have suggested that Gunner Robert Buie (also of the 53rd Battery) may have fired the fatal shot. There is little support for this theory.<ref name="miller"/><ref name="channel4"/> In 2007, [[Hornsby Shire Council]], a municipal authority in Sydney, Australia, recognised Buie as the man who shot down Richthofen, placing a plaque near his former home in [[Brooklyn, New South Wales|Brooklyn]].<ref>Day, Mark. "Unsung No.1 with a bullet." ''The Australian'', 7 April 2007.</ref> Buie died in 1964.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-10-31 |title=Robert Buie Memorial Plaque {{!}} NSW War Memorials Register |url=https://www.warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au/content/robert-buie-memorial-plaque |access-date=2025-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031034556/https://www.warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au/content/robert-buie-memorial-plaque |archive-date=31 October 2020 }}</ref>