While McCudden watched the triplane crash, Rhys-Davids spotted the Albatros and dispatched it, firing from 100 to 30 yards and severely damaging the machine which force-landed. (The Albatros is said in some accounts to have belonged to Carl Menckhoff, but Menckhoff made no mention of this engagement in his later memoirs, and his involvement has been questioned.) Rhys-Davids then returned to base at 18:35–18:40. That evening there was much speculation about the identity of the German pilot. The Germans soon announced that an ace pilot named Werner Voss had not returned from a sortie and was posted as missing in action. Rhys-Davids came in for a shower of congratulations from the Squadron upon learning the identity of his victory. Rhys-Davids was less sanguine; he lamented to McCudden; "if only I could have brought him down alive".