machine-gun firing merge by both pilots, Voss' aircraft was suddenly struck by a starboard broadside burst of machine-gun fire from Hoidge, who was probably unsighted by Voss at that moment, and after this it was noticed that Voss stopped manoeuvring and flew level for the first time in the engagement. At this moment Rhys-Davids, who had pulled aside to change an ammunition drum, rejoined the battle with a height advantage over Voss's altitude of , and began a long flat dive on to the tail of Voss' tri-plane, which failed to react. At point-blank range he raked Voss' aircraft with his machine-guns before breaking off. A few seconds on Voss's aircraft wandered into Rhys-Davids line of flight again in a strangely becalmed slow westward glide, Rhys-Davids again fired an extended burst into it causing its engine to stop, the two aircraft missing a mid-air collision by inches. As the tri-plane's glide steepened, Rhys-Davids overran him at about altitude and lost sight of Voss's aircraft beneath his own. From above, Bowman saw the Fokker in what could have been a landing glide, right up until it stalled. It then flipped inverted and nose down, dropping directly to earth. The resulting smash left only the rudder intact. McCudden, watching from , recalled: "I saw him go into a fairly steep dive and so I continued to watch, and then saw the tri-plane hit the ground and disappear into a thousand fragments, for it seemed to me that it literally went into powder." There would be debate later whether Voss dropped out of the inverted triplane. Voss had fought the British aces for around eight minutes, eluding them and achieving hits on nearly every SE.5a. His stricken aircraft crashed near Plum Farm north of Frezenberg, Belgium at about 18:40 hours. Aftermath British reaction Lieutenant Verschoyle Phillip Cronyn later described his harrowing return flight. Being the rare targeted pilot to escape Voss's gun fire, he now had to coax home a failing machine destined for the scrapheap. He lost control of it banking for the landing pattern, and finally performed a desperate high speed landing at 18:40 hours, approximately coincidental with the triplane's impact. His Squadron commander, Major Blomfield, led the shaky-kneed pilot from his machine to a bench and plied him with medicinal brandy. Cronyn's composure broke. After a fit of weeping, he pulled himself together as McCudden landed, followed by Rhys-Davids. The