First Western Front "airplane Kill" in 1914?

[PFF]

Was the First Airplane vs Airplane kill happen on the Western Front 1914?

Was it French over German?

[centurion]

The first shooting down in air combat over the WF was on 5th Oct 1914 when Joseph Frantz and his observer named Quenault shot down an Aviatik two seater with a Hotchkisss.

See this thread kill

[Cnock]

Hi,

On 5/10/1914 Sergent Joseph FRANTZ and his observer Louis QUENAULT of Escadrille V24, in a Voisin LA3 scored the first aerial victory.

They had mounted a machine gun on a pivoting fork, and shot down an Aviatik of Feld Flieger Abteilung 18 near Reims.

German aviators Feldwebel SCHLICHTING and Oberleutnant von ZANGEN both died.

Regards,

Cnock

[Dolphin]

PFF

I think that your questions is if the first time when an aeroplane was brought down by another aeroplane on the Western Front was a French victory over a German. It rather depends on your definition of a 'kill'.

On 25 August 1914, the first enemy aeroplane to be forced down in combat by a British aeroplane was a German two-seater Taube that landed after an action with three aircraft from No 2 Sqn RFC when the RFC men made a number of feinted attacks. The German pilot landed and the crew then escaped into a nearby wood after Lt H D Harvey-Kelly and Lt W H C Mansfield landed nearby. After some trophies were removed from the Taube it was burnt.

I hope that this helps you.

Gareth