Ace Down

   Probably the most famous ace pilot was Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen or as he was called “The Red Baron. He racked up 81 air kills in combat during the First World War. What made him so deadly was his discipline. He had a set of rules that kept him from danger, rules he adhered to with precision.

Number One: Never follow an enemy for too long, there was too much of a chance one of his buddies would come to the rescue and get you.  

Number Two: Never fly too far into enemy territory, then enemies' ground fire might pick you off. 

Number Three: Never fly too low to the ground, not only would it put you in range of enemy guns, but it also risks a crash if the plane is damaged.

  He kept those rules until April 21st, 1918 when we got into a dogfight with a young and inexperienced Brit named Wilfrid May. May’s guns had jammed and as he fled the Baron saw an easy target.

  Maybe because it seemed such an easy target Richthofen broke his rules, he stayed on the target too long and flew too low and into enemy territory. Sure enough another pilot Canadian Captain Arthur Roy Brown was able to get in position behind the Baron and a group of soldiers on the ground were able to open fire as well.

  No one knows for sure who got him, but nevertheless, the Baron’s plane was hit, and since he was so close to the ground he could not recover. He crashed in a nearby beet field, where he would bleed out and die, still strapped to his seat.

 We know the rules as well. Don’t stray too far into worldliness. Don’t get too low into sinful temptation. Don’t get too far from God’s word and his people. But we too fool ourselves into thinking it will be easy to escape the world attacks.

We may think we can ace the test but we are better off avoiding the temptation altogether!