Series 01 Part 02: Hughes family correspondence, 3 April 1917-22 September 1918 - Page 405
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[Page 405]
4.
that he shot down over 80 Allied machines, and he was undoubtedly a magnificent pilot. He was the idol of the Hun Flying Corps & his magic name was the balm always supplied by the Huns to soothe the soreness of the infantry when they grumbled about our superiority in the air. He led a squadron of "all star" pilots known to us as the "circus" and his death will be an awful blow to the moral of the Hun Flying Corps which must be low enough already.
There is some argument about who actually brought him down but I understand it was a naval pilot Captain Brown. Having had some small argument with him and his circus myself, I take my hat off to him as a very gallant and supremely clever enemy. I am now quite certain that he & his circus were part of the mob we fought on March 13th and I am convinced that my friend on the brilliant red triplane who chased me home that day was the great man himself, for he was flying an all red triplane when he was killed. Really I did have a cheek to turn & try & fight the great Richtofen with my observers gun out of action! Anyway I have my damaged strut as a memento of my only scrap with the greatest of all Hun airmen, and some day Daddy will have a tobacco jar made from the propellor that he shot through that day.
I think that is all the "shop" I have to talk this