Another eye witness, Sergeant Ted Smout, reported that Richthofen's last word was "kaput" ("finished") immediately before he died. By the time of his death he had 80 kills to his name although it is thought the figure could have been even higher. Sonja is survived by her husband, Larry Popkin, sons Michael Vellekamp and Mark Vellekamp (wife Stephanie), stepdaughters Lee Anne McNulty (husband Tim) and Lara Vacca, eight grandchildren: Hannah, Heather, Vincent, Izabelle, Samuel, Zachary, Alexander and Nicholas and two great-grandchildren Steel and Talon. A student at the same school, Cedric was reported as having a "bad" character who had been before the Bench of Magistrates previously. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. WebEat Healthy !!! Many Australian riflemen were also shooting at the Baron at the time, so one of them may have fired the fatal shot. Imagine how much manuverability that a 3 wing airplane has!! NARRATOR: Perched on the slope was the Australian gunnery sergeant, Cedric Popkin. Baron von Richthofen: The Red Baron http://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/1918/people/rbaron.asp, NOVA's "Who killed the Red Baron", http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/redbaron/, AIF War Diary of 24th Aust. Porizkova had been (Hon. "If the bullet had struck von Richthofen at close range, I would have expected a more explosive type wound," Peter Franks, a ballistics expert, told NOVA . By April, 1918, Cedric had achieved the rank of sergeant in a gunnery regiment and found himself stationed in the Somme area of On 21 April 1918 whilst at his post as a gunner with his Vickers Machine Gun, at Corbie in the Somme Valley, Sergeant Cedric Popkin encountered the Red Baron. The Planes came from an Easterly direction and when within range of my gun, were flying very low, just above the tree tops. Cedric Popkin enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in March, 1916. One witness, Gunner George Ridgway, stated that when he and other Australian soldiers reached the plane, Richthofen was still alive but died moments later. On 20 June 1890 Cedric Bassett Popkin was born , followed by Dorothy in 1892 (in Queanbeyan NSW) and another boy Roland G in 1894 at Marrickville in Sydney. Suddenly I felt miserable, desperately unhappy, as if I had committed an injustice. Richthofens machine seemed to move unsteadily for a moment, but still continued in pursuit of the British plane8. He pursued a Camel piloted by a Canadian, Lieutenant Wilfrid May. Cedric Popkin and the Red Baron | Tweed Regional Museum So therefore, it is possible the pursuing plane could have fired from any angle. Despite his enemy status, von Richthofen was so highly respected that the Allies buried him with full military honors alongside their own dead. "If the bullet had struck von Richthofen at close range, I would have expected a more explosive type wound," Peter Franks, a ballistics expert, told NOVA . Von Richtofen's success as a flying ace earned him the nicknames der rote Kampfflieger (the Red Battle-Flyer) by the Germans, petit rouge (the little Red) or le Diable Rouge (the Red Devil) by the French, and the Red Knight or, most famously, the Red Baron, by the British. The Foker Tri-plane was rolling, pitching, yawing, climbing, and diving. Popkin was an experienced AA gunner, the volume of fire from the Vickers was far greater (at least 450 rounds per minute) than the bolt-action Lee-Enfield rifles (up to 30 rounds per minute) used by the infantry, and Popkin was the only machine gunner known to have fired at Richthofen from the right, and from a long distance, immediately before he landed.Private Alfred Fowler, with the 40th Australian Battalion, witnessed the Red Baron's death. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. Phone: 02 6670 2493 An excellent athlete and horseman he was However, consider the situation. And in my heart I cursed the force that is devoted to death. The Person Who Shot Down The Famed Red Baron Remains A Nova sought the opinion of Norman Franks, author and aviation historian who when asked 'What do we need to look at?' He pursued a Camel piloted by a Canadian, Lieutenant Wilfrid May. His plane crashed in Australian lines whilst flying very near to the ground. Virtual War Memorial | Cedric Bassett POPKIN The three planes flew over Morlancourt Ridge, in the 4th Division's sector, and Popkin "using a Vickers machine gun" and other Australian machine gunners and riflemen also fired at Richthofen. I handed my gun over to the No. After the war Cedric and Nellie returned south to NSW and by 1930 Cedric had taken up the position of Postmaster at Tyalgum, near Murwillumbah. Gathered from those who lived during the same time period, were born in the same place, or who have a family name in common. Home; About; Products; sucesos de las islas filipinas was written by The distance from the spot where the Plane crashed and my gun was about 600 yards. Perhaps he had forgotten his statement (see above) that was recorded in the 24th Australian Machine Gun Companys War Diary for April 1918. If you would like to view one of these trees in its entirety, you can contact the owner of the tree to request permission to see the tree. Sergeant Cedric Popkin is second from right in middle row.In the foreground are two Vickers machine guns on tripods. Cedric and Nellie had two sons, Roland and Michael, and the family moved to Palmwoods in Queensland before the outbreak of WW1. But Brown would have been firing from behind and above left. 209 Squadron, Royal Air Force, when he was attacked by a second Sopwith Camel BR, number B 7270, piloted by Captain Arthur Roy Brown, D.S.C., Mays commanding officer. Popkin was an anti-aircraft machine gunner in the 24th Machine Gun Company, part of the Australian 4th Division, stationed in the Somme Valley, France. When he was four years old, Manfred moved with his family to nearby Schweidnitz (now widnica ). Start a free family tree online and well do the searching for you. "The only claimant at that range is Popkin. On 5 January 1919 Cedric was invalided back to Australia on the H.T. Running to the wreckage, Fowler saw bullet wounds in Richthofen's chest, and was convinced he had been killed by the gunners. Provides a biography of The 24th Machine Gun Company War Diary for April 1918 includes a statement by Sgt Popkin: "I was the Sergeant in charge of a Machine Gun detachment at J 19 d. Initially, the credit was given to a Canadian pilot, Roy Brown, however it is now accepted that Sergeant Cedric Bassett Popkin was responsible for the demise of the Red Baron. Roy Brown Deaths Search ResultsName Registration NumberFather's Given Name(s)Mother's Given Name(s)District POPKIN NELLIE ELLEN 22665/1965 MICHAEL MARY JANE MURWILLUMBAH POPKIN CEDRIC BASSETT 17996/1968 WILLIAM MARTHA TWEED HEADS POPKIN VEDA LUCY 108827/1986 HERBERT EDWARDKATEhttps://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search;jsessionid=901E3F03C8A5501C6F0235B74E31FA81?0 accessed 6 Apr 2018, Births Search ResultsName Registration Number Father's Given Name(s)Mother's Given Name(s)DistrictPOPKIN CEDRIC B 32243/1890 DAN W B LILIAN M ST LEONARDS https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search/births?1, Categories: Genealogy Challenge | Australian World War I figures, Vickers machine gunner, Australian 24th Machine Gun Company, 4th Division, St Leonards, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1959589/, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search;jsessionid=901E3F03C8A5501C6F0235B74E31FA81?0, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search/births?1, https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Cedric_Popkin_%281%29. On arriving at Sierra Leone, Cedric and his company were transferred to the Ulysses which carried the troops to England. WebApril 21, 1918: Manfred Von Richthofen, the famous Red Baron, was shot down and killed by Australian antiaircraft gunner Sgt. Entrance books for the "Sabraon", a ship moored in Sydney Harbour serving as a boy's industrial school , reveal that 13 year old Cedric was arrested for "stealing from the Grafton Public School one cadet cap". Cedric the Entertainer has three children: Tiara Soria Kyles, Croix Kyles and Lucky Rose Kyles. Cedric enlisted in the AIF on 6 May 1916 and did not see his family again for three long hard years. M.G.Coy for April 1918, AWM4 24/24/8. He then made a hasty but controlled landing, in a field on a hill near the Bray-Corbie road, just north of Vaux-sur-Somme. Popkin was an experienced AA gunner, the volume of fire from the Vickers was far greater (at least 450 rounds per minute) than the bolt-action Lee-Enfield rifles (up to 30 rounds per minute) used by the infantry, and Popkin was the only machine gunner known to have fired at Richthofen from the right, and from a long distance, immediately before he landed. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980Name: Cedric Bassett PopkinGender: MaleElectoral Year: 1913Subdistrict: ToowongState: QueenslandDistrict: BrisbaneCountry: AustraliaSource InformationAncestry.com. "SCVHistory.com CP3908 | Val Verde | History of Million Dollar Productions; Written for Cornerstone Time Capsule, 4-16-1939", "My dear secretary - Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leo_C._Popkin&oldid=1145330822, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 March 2023, at 15:32. Who shot him was one of the great puzzles of the War and the subject of decades of controversy. He had followed the fight and now swung his Vickers gun through 180 degrees in With one single test, you can discover your genetic origins and find family you never know you had. By April 1918, Popkin who had achieved the rank Youll get hints when we find information about your relatives . He and his brother Harry M. Popkin (1906 October 7, 1991)[5] worked on movies together. Description: The Australian website dedicated to researching WW1 Diggers and nurses who came from or were associated POPKIN Cedric Bassett - Diggers Database - Search for a In 1956, Gunner R. Buie, a Lewis gunner of the 53rd Battery, wrote to Australian newspapers about how he and Gunner W. J. Evans had opened fire on a German plane chasing a British one toward their position. "Given the evidence and the claimants, we can say that it was a long-range shot, that is, over 600 yards," says Peter Franks. historians" Cedric the Entertainer Shares Rare Snap Posing With His Son About 10.45am on the 21st April, 1918, one of our Aeroplanes was being engaged by a German Aeroplane and was being driven down. Richthofen had allied plane kills to his credit and was only 25 when he died. If I could I would gladly have brought him back to life, but that is somewhat different than shooting a gun. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980Name: Cedric Bassett PopkinGender: MaleElectoral Year: 1937Subdistrict: MurwillumbahState: New South WalesDistrict: RichmondCountry: AustraliaSource InformationAncestry.com. WebAustralia portal; Cedric Popkin is within the scope of WikiProject Australia, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Australia and Australia-related topics.If you would like to Cedric Popkin. Despite this, the attending surgeons at Richthofen's autopsy were of the opinion that the angle and nature of the bullet wounds ruled out the possibility that he had been shot from the ground, and that the injuries were due to the efforts of a Canadian pilot Roy Brown. Autopsies revealed that the wound which killed the Baron was caused by a bullet moving in an upward motion. The Baron was hit by a 0.303 calibre bullet which passed diagonally from right to left through his chest. Cedric Bassett Popkin (20 June 189026 January 1968) was an Australian soldier considered most likely to have killed "The Red Baron" according to original research and forensics done by Dr M Geoffrey Miller The death of Baron Manfred Richthofen: Who fired the fatal shot? in 1998 (Journal and Proceedings of Military History Society of Australia). Baron von Richthofen, was flying a single seater triplane painted red and reported to be of a new pattern. C.B. Cedric Popkin died in 1968 at Tweed Heads NSW. Von Richtofen's success as a flying ace earned him the nicknames der rote Kampfflieger (the Red Battle-Flyer) by the Germans, petit rouge (the little Red) or le Diable Rouge (the Red Devil) by the French, and the Red Knight or, most famously, the Red Baron, by the British. They remained at Tyalgum for about ten years before moving north to run the Cudgen post office. By 1895 the Sands Directory gives Dan's address as the "Derby Hotel" in Regent Street, Sydney and in 1896 he is listed at Terminus Street, Sydney. AWM E01716 Group portrait of officers and NCOs of 24th Machine Gun Company date 8 March 1918 in France. If he had been my dearest friend, I could not have felt greater sorrow., Captain Arthur Roy Brown, D.S.C. (Sgd.) But Brown would have been firing from behind and above left. (Chronicle 23 Aug 1918 p2), William Bassett (known as Dan) Popkin m. Lillian Martha Gilbert, 11 October 1884 Queensland, (Regn B009200 p5350), http://blogs.ancestry.com/au/2011/03/03/entrance-books-for-the-vernon-and-the-sobraon-1867-1911/. To receive a Bar to the Distinguished Service Cross. I handed my gun over to the No. Following their marriage in Queensland and birth of their first daughter Gladys Lilian, Dan William Bassett Popkin and his wife Lilian moved to St Leonards in Sydney where a daughter Sophia Edith was born in 1887 quickly followed by Marjory in 1888 . "Fragments flew from the plane and it lessened speed. The story is told in the following section. He was based at the Machine Gun Corps depot at Camiers, where he attended training school6. On 20 June 1890 Cedric Bassett Popkin was born , followed by Dorothy in 1892 (in Queanbeyan NSW) and another boy Roland G in 1894 at Marrickville in Sydney. On 2 March 1918 Cedric was promoted to Training Sergeant, shortly before the company photograph was taken . Blond, silk-soft hair, like that of a child, fell from the broad high forehead. I could no longer look him in the face. On his return home Cedric and his family returned to the Tweed area and by 1930 he had taken up the position of Postmaster at Tyalgum, near Murwillumbah. Extensive examination of the witness statements and position of various allied servicemen shooting at the plane led to the decision that the only man who was in the right position to have fired the fatal bullet was Popkin. That man was Australian gunnery sergeant Cedric Popkin, who, according to NOVA, was firing a machine gun at the Baron's right side from the ground, about 600 yards away. 26 stycznia 1968 w ) australijski onierz walczcy podczas I wojny wiatowej, ktry najprawdopodobniej zabi . 1 gunner and proceeded to where the Plane fell. These trees can change over time as users edit, remove, or otherwise modify the data in their trees. The three planes flew over Morlancourt Ridge, in the 4th Divisions sector, and Popkin using a Vickers machine gun and other Australian machine gunners and riflemen also fired at Richthofen. "The fact that the bullet was found intact inside the clothing of Richthofen is another indicator that it was a long-range shot," Franks told NOVA, "and I would say that would be probably 600 yards plus. I gnashed my teeth, I cursed the war. Live Healthy !!! . On 9 August 1917, Private Popkin was appointed Lance Corporal with 17th Machine Gun Company at Parkhouse Training Camp. The three planes flew over Morlancourt Ridge and Sergeant Popkin, who was in charge of a machine gun detachment, fired at Richthofen using a Vickers machine gun. 30756, at Page 7304, Column 2. In terms of his Whilst in training camp at Perham Downs on Salisbury Plains, Cedric was reprimanded for insulting language to a NCO, which turned out to be his one and only military offence. He was initially taken to the 4th Australian Field Ambulance located at The Chateau, Les Alencons, France. Popkin is believed to have shot down Baron Manfred von Richthofens plane. The police report stated "he keeps company with bad companions and often sleeps out at night". Battery Lewis Gunners probably assisted in sealing the fate of this airman, as he apparently flew right into their line of fire. Cedric Bassett Popkin, Service No 424, from Palmwoods, Queensland, is now considered the person most likely to have killed German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the "Red Baron" on 21 April 1918. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps. . Running to the wreckage, Fowler saw bullet wounds in Richthofen's chest, and was convinced he had been killed by the gunners. The Pilot (whom I was subsequently told was Captain Baron Von Richthoven [sic], I saw had at least three machine gun bullets through his body, one in his ribs at the side, and a couple through his chest, and I consider he died as a result of these wounds from the time he was hit till he hit the ground, a matter of 2 or 3 seconds. He was just 25 years old. PBS TV NOVA aired a documentary on Oct 7 2003 entitled Who Killed the Red Baron? Most now believe that a Australian sergeant named Cedric Popkin is the most likely to have fired the bullet that downed the Red Baron. But Brown would have been firing from behind and above left. "Given the evidence and the claimants, we can say that it was a long-range shot, that is, over 600 yards," says Peter Franks. AWM No. It was reported that a spent .303 bullet was found inside Richthofen's clothing. Like many young men and women in the British Empire, he felt a call to defend her against what most considered to be German aggression. Autopsies revealed that the wound which killed the Baron was caused by a bullet moving in an upward motion. His Fokker was not damaged by the landing. I congratulated Sergeant Popkin on his successful shoot, but afterwards found out that two A.A. Lewis Guns belonging to the 53rd. Websergeant cedric Popkin killed the red Baron? Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific military history task force, the Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific military history task force, https://archive.is/20091005212023/http://www.suncoast.com.au/Palmwoods/News/98-04/p5a.html, http://www.suncoast.com.au/Palmwoods/News/98-04/p5a.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20110613145710/http://deepthought.hass.adfa.edu.au:8080/showPerson?pid=243551, http://deepthought.hass.adfa.edu.au:8080/showPerson?pid=243551, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Cedric_Popkin&oldid=849600504, Start-Class biography (military) articles, Low-importance biography (military) articles, Start-Class Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific military history articles, Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific military history task force articles, Low-importance Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific military history articles, Military aviation articles needing attention to referencing and citation, Military aviation articles needing attention to coverage and accuracy, Military biography articles needing attention to referencing and citation, Military biography articles needing attention to coverage and accuracy, Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific military history articles needing attention to referencing and citation, Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific military history articles needing attention to coverage and accuracy, World War I articles needing attention to referencing and citation, World War I articles needing attention to coverage and accuracy, Military history articles needing attention to referencing and citation, Military history articles needing attention to coverage and accuracy, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This article has been checked against the following, If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with, If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with, This page was last edited on 10 July 2018, at 03:00. Flying his Fokker Dr.I Dreidecker (tri-plane), serial number 425/17, von Richthofen was in pursuit of a Sopwith Camel F.1, D3326, flown by Lieutenant Wilfred Reid May, No. By 7 April, when his company commander Sgt Phee was declared missing in action, Cedric was promoted to Sergeant. Australian War Memorial Collection, http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/AWM4/24/24, 2237 Air Mechanic 2nd Class John A R Alexander, No 3 Sqn AFC Private Record Collection PR86/133 (extract from personal diary), Australian War Memorial http://www.awm.gov.au/blog/2008/02/06/who-killed-the-red-baron-2, NOVA PBS documentary, Who killed the Red Baron?, Oct 7, 2003 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/redbaron/about.html, Cedric Bassett Popkin 424, Service Record, Cited by Cedric Bassett Popkin, Adopt a Digger Project, http://www.adoptadigger.org/search-for-a-ww1-digger/search-for-a-ww1-digger/item/3-diggers-database/1230-popkin-cedric, Looking back: 'I shot the Red Baron', The Daily Examiner, 7th Nov 2013. ", In an email to ScienCentral, Franks went into more detail. Despite treatment and rest Cedric had to be evacuated to England, so on 5th July 1918 he was transported on the H.S. He was still alivewhenhe wasreachedby Australian infantry, but died almost immediately. This message was posted before February 2018. . 'Red Baron' Photos courtesy of John Nichols. Kanowna, arriving in Australia on 7 March 191914. However, most sources attribute Other Australian machine gunners and riflemen also fired at the Baron. With his father away most of the time, controlling young Cedric was not an easy task and he was soon in trouble with the law. Cedric's enlistment papers describe him as 5ft 6 in tall, 150 lbs, brown eyes and black hair.
Bring your brands through impactful display