What happened next has been a matter of debate. At an altitude variously estimated between 200 and 600 feet, Lufbery was said to have jumped out of the plane, either to avoid a fiery death or as an attempt to land in the nearby Moselle River, rather than being thrown from the cockpit after it flipped over above the village of Maron. His falling body struck a metal garden picket fence, causing his death. However, on-site research by Royal D. Frey of the National Museum of the United States Air Force (then the Air Force Museum) established in 1962 that witnesses on the ground below the action saw the plane, not burning, flip over, and Lufbery was thrown out, having unfastened his seat belt to clear a jam in his machine gun during his final fight. Frey went on to explain the social dynamics that led to the "historical inflation." The German aircrew - a Rumpler-crew of Reihenbildzug Nr. 3, Gefr. Kirschbaum and Lt. Scheibe - were then shot down and captured.