The General Staff

Provisional Notes on Firing at Aircraft with Machine Guns and Other Small Arms, March 1917 The General Staff

The debate on the fate of Germany's top-scoring air ace, the famous 'Red Baron' Manfred von Richthoften, (who may have been brought down by ground fire rather than in a dogfight), shows that it was possible to bring down enemy aircraft using rifles and machine guns. This slim booklet is aimed at making that aim easier. Illustrated with diagrams, and much concerned with angles of fire, elevation, and the speed and sighting of hostile aircraft, this gives a graphic picture of anti-aircraft small arms fire in the Great War.