Cedric's company was based at Camiers in France, the base depot for the Machine Gun Corps where he attended training school. Top Stories. ", In an email to ScienCentral, Franks went into more detail. Start a free family tree online and well do the searching for you. By 7 April, when his company commander Sgt Phee was declared missing in action, Cedric was promoted to Sergeant. Cedric and Nellie had two sons, Roland and Michael, and the family moved to Palmwoods in Queensland before the outbreak of WW1. Richthofen had allied plane kills to his credit and was only 25 when he died. Many have claimed credit since that fateful day and all have their detractors and supporters. "Now the evidence is that the wounds were actually probed by the medical staff after he had been shot down and they were actually able to follow the bullet path through the body. "I started firing at the body of the German pilot directly through my peep sight," Buie wrote. 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. WebHis father was Major Albrecht Phillip Karl Julius Freiherr von Richthofen and his mother was Kunigunde von Schickfuss und Neudorff. See Paulina Porizkova and Ric Ocasek's Two Sons All Grown Up Sgt Popkin 2nd from right middle row. One witness, Gunner George Ridgway, stated that when he and other Australian soldiers reached the plane, Richthofen was still alive but died moments later. Supplied: Popkin family archive. The machine swerved, attempted to bank and make for the ground and immediately crashed. At about 10.35am on 21 April, Baron von Richthofen, flying his red Fokker DR-1, engaged Sopwith Camels from 209 Squadron, RAF. The plane the Baron was pursuing was piloted by Canadian, Lieutenant Wilfrid May and the Baron was in turn being chased by another Canadian pilot, Captain Roy Brown. Many researchers have come to the conclusion that Sergeant Cedric Bassett Popkin, 24th Australian Machine Gun Company, 4th Division, Australian Imperial Force, But Brown would have been firing from behind and above left. He had an elder sister (Ilse) and two younger brothers. His brother Harry M. Popkin was the executive producer of Million Dollar Productions, a 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. sucesos de las islas filipinas was written by Template Design Joomla Templates GavickPro. All rights reserved. He passed away on Jan 1968 in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia. Leo C. Popkin (19142011) was a film director and producer in the United States. His brother Harry M. Popkin was the executive producer of Million Dollar Productions, a partnership that included Ralph Cooper. Hall, Peter. The young couple moved to South Murwillumbah where Cedric found work as a tobacconist. He died in France, aged 24, on 27 Sept 1918. Armed with a Vickers machine gun, he had fired twice on the plane as it flew overhead, the second time at the same angle as the bullet entered von Richthofens body. As shown on PBS's NOVA, the medical reports showed von Richthofen was hit by an upward shot to the right side. The closer the bullet's range, the greater the wound damage. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980 [database on-line]. 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. By 7 April, when his company commander Sgt Phee was declared missing in action, Cedric was promoted to Sergeant. I could no longer look him in the face. "Because of the nature of the ammunition and how it performs within body tissue, we can determine in these circumstances at what approximate range the shot was fired. "Given the evidence and the claimants, we can say that it was a long-range shot, that is, over 600 yards," says Peter Franks. Capt.) Another eye witness, Sergeant Ted Smout, reported that Richthofen's last word was "kaput" ("finished") immediately before he died. And in my heart I cursed the force that is devoted to death. He passed awayon Jan 1968in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia. Template Design Joomla Templates GavickPro. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Roy Brown 424 Sgt Popkin, C.B., AIF War Diary of the 24th Australian Machine Gun Company for April 1918. Cedric Popkin His face, particularly peaceful, had an expression of gentleness and goodness, of refinement. Taping rights: can be used up to one year after the program is taped off the air. 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. 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. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps. Discover your family history in millions of family trees and more than a billion birth,marriage, death, census, and miltary records. Cedric, Service No 424, was originally assigned to the 6th Machine Gun Reinforcements as a private on 20 June, then to the 7th Machine Gun Company on 4 August 1916 when he embarked in Melbourne on the Port Lincoln.