Recent content by Dernancourt

Regarding the Vickers machine gun firing distance mentioned in #23 post, Sgt Cedric Popkin‘s own comments when interviewed by the authors such as Dale Titler and P.J. Carisella, in the 1960’s, was that he fired about 80 rounds on the first pass of MvR and another 80 odd rounds at the triplane on...

You are correct "Akuma" Sgt Cedric Popkin knew it was his bullet that hit MvR. My Grandfather was with him at the time. Popkin was a marksman, and he knew how far ahead of the plane to aim his Vickers gun to make the hit. I have visited Popkin's daughter in northern NSW a few years ago, and...

I have voted for Sgt Popkin. My Fathers Father, (my grandfather) Henry (Harry) Heywood, was in the 24th Machine gun company with Cedric Popkin. Grandpa, had a first hand account of the event. Over the meal table for decades after the war, he told his four children of the war events he...