History Mystery - Rumpler C.IV shot down by Charles Biddle?

[Don Boose]

Today, the Air Force Historical Foundation, as part of its "This Day in Air Force History" series, noted that on 18 October 1918, Major Charles Biddle, commanding the 13th Aero (Pursuit) Squadron, 2nd Pursuit Group, of the U.S. Army Air Service shot down his eighth hostile aircraft and posted an image of Major Biddle in front of an aircraft (Image 1, below). On This Day in Air Force History

I think the aircraft was a Rumpler C-IV, and probably the very aircraft Biddle forced down.

The three-view drawing of the Rumpler C-V on page 64 of my 64-year-old copy of O.G. Thetford and E.J. Riding, Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War (Harleyford, UK: Harborough Publishing, 1954) shows the distinctive semi-circular upper wing radiator (Images 2 and 3), which was also carried on the C-IV (see Image 4 from Rumpler C.IV).

In his autobiography (Charles J. Biddle, The Way of the Eagle, New York: Charles Scribner, 1919, p. 245), Biddle describes the circumstances of the photograph: "Then a French general put in an appearance and made me stand up in front of the Boche plane with flowers in my hand while he took my picture. I felt awfully foolish during this procedure with about three thousand people looking on, but you will see from the enclosed photo what sweet and girlish smile I managed to assume." (The original image and title page of the book are at Image 5)

The words, "the Boche plane" seems to indicate that the aircraft in the photo is the very aircraft he had shot down (which seems to have come down mostly undamaged) - documented as a Rumpler C-IV.

Image 6 is identified as Biddle's SPAD XIII (13th Aero Squadron - Wikipedia).

Some sources indicate that the Rumpler was the fifth, rather than the eighth, of Biddle's victories.

Can anyone confirm or correct my identification of the aircraft as a Rumpler C-IV and/or provide any additional information on the episode?

Don