Columbia, MO (WFN) -- Two medical experts are throwing some light on how World War I flying ace, the Red Baron, was really shot down.

And, guess what! Snoopy had nothing to do with it.

Clinical Associate professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Daniel Orme, and retired neuropsychologist Thomas L. Hyatt, claim in a new paper Baron Manfred von Richthofen's demise began with a head injury he got in a dog fight nine months prior to being shot down.

Orme says he and Hyatt believe the bullet that creased his forehead is why the skilled pilot, in his words, "allowed himself to be shot down."

When the Baron was shot down, he was targeting a plane into British territory, flying at treetop level in a heavy gunned area, making himself an easy target to hit.

They believe the injury, which remained an open wound for nine months, caused personality and cognitive changes, leading to errors in judgement.

The Baron ultimately died when he was shot in the chest, but Orme says, "Perhaps credit for his being shot down should have been given to that machine gunner nine months before whose lucky shot creased the Baron's skull."

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