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Manfred is in a sweeping, rising 180 degrees right turn on his way back to the front. He has realized that he should not continue the pursuit into the British front section (about 3 km into the British side). In these constantly changing battles, he has probably not been fully aware of the exact demarcation of the front. He probably has also not taken into account the strong tailwind that has given him a much higher speed than normal. Almost every day the wind blows from the west, from the Allied side. But now he has realized that he is too low, and too far into enemy territory, and the pursuit should be interrupted. He has just over a minute to fly back to his own side of the front in the strong headwind. The plane is at an altitude of about 80–100 meters and has a bank angle of 45-60 degrees. The speed in the tailwind of about 210 km/h is now greatly reduced in the headwind towards home to only 135–140 km/h. At this very moment the God of war and chance decides that his time is up, and he is hit by a stray bullet. My opinion is that the strong headwind made it easier for the soldiers on the ground to hit him. If he had turned 90 degrees to the left, the wind would not have been so troublesome, and within a few seconds he would have been flying over German advancing troops/territory.
Askania
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