Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred von Richthofen. Around his neck he wears the Pour le Mérite, Prussia's highest military order.
Nickname(s)	Red Baron
Allegiance	German Empire
Service/branch	Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Army Air Service, forerunner of the Luftwaffe}
Years of service	1911-1918
Rank	Rittmeister
Unit	Jasta 11, Jagdgeschwader 1
Commands held	Jasta 11 (01.1917) Jagdgeschwader 1 (24.06.1917-21.04.1918)
Awards	Pour le Mérite

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (May 2, 1892 – April 21, 1918) was a German fighter pilot. He was an air squadron leader and flying ace and the most successful fighter pilot of World War I, credited with 80 confirmed air combat victories.^[1][2] Richthofen is also known as "le Baron Rouge", "le Diable Rouge" ("Red Devil") or "Le Petit Rouge" ("Little Red") in French, and the "Red Knight" or the "Red Baron" in the English-speaking world. The German translation of Red Baron is "der rote Baron", and Richthofen is known by this title in Germany as well (although he was rarely referred to as "Baron" in Germany during his lifetime, because Freiherr is the correct title for his level of nobility. Richthofen's autobiography is titled Der Rote Kampfflieger ("The Red Battle Flier").

Early life

Richthofen was born in Breslau, Silesia, into a German family of nobility (see also below). When he was 9 years old, he moved with his family to nearby Schweidnitz. The young Richthofen enjoyed hunting and riding horses. After completing cadet training in 1911, he joined the Ulanen-Regiment Kaiser Alexanders des III. von Russland (1. Westpreußisches), a cavalry unit ("Uhlan Regiment Emperor Alexander III of Russia [1st Regiment, West Prussia]").

When the First World War broke out, Richthofen served as a cavalry scout on both the eastern and western fronts. However, when traditional cavalry operations became obsolete due to machine guns and barbed wire, the Uhlans were used in ordinary battlefield operations and for reinforcements.^[3] Due to his disappointment with not being able to participate more often in combat operations, Richthofen applied for a transfer to the Flying Service. After a while his query got granted and he joined the flying service at the end of May 1915.^[4]

Piloting career

He was initially an observer on reconnaissance flights over the Eastern Front during June to August 1915, with the No. 69 Flying Squadron. On being transferred to the Champagne front, he managed to shoot down a French Farman aircraft with his observer's machine gun, but was not credited with the kill, as it fell behind Allied lines.

He then trained as a pilot in October, 1915. In March 1916, he joined Kampfgeschwader 2 flying a two-seater Albatros B.II. Over Verdun on April 26 1916, he fired on a French Nieuport downing it over Fort Douamont, although once again he gained no official credit. At this time he flew a Fokker Eindecker single-seat fighter.

After a further spell flying two seaters on the Eastern Front in August 1916 he met fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke. Boelcke, touring the East looking for candidates for his newly formed fighter unit, selected Richthofen to join the new Jagdstaffel, Jasta 2. Richthofen won his first aerial combat over Cambrai, France, on September 17, 1916.

After his first victory, Richthofen ordered a silver cup engraved with the date of the fight and the type of enemy machine from a jeweller friend in Berlin. He continued this tradition until he had 60 cups, by which time the supply of silver in blockaded Germany was restricted.

Rather than engage in such risky tactics as his brother Lothar (40 air victories), Manfred von Richthofen adhered strictly to a set of flight maxims (commonly referred to as the "Dicta Boelcke") to assure the greatest chance of both squadron and individual success.

On November 23, 1916, Richthofen downed his most renowned adversary, the British ace Major Lanoe Hawker VC, described by Richthofen himself as "the British Boelcke." The victory came while Richthofen was flying an Albatros D.II and Hawker was flying a D.H.2. After this engagement, he was convinced he needed a fighter aircraft with more agility, though this implied a loss of speed. However, the Albatros fighter was the mainstay of the German Air Service at that time and throughout 1917, and so the Baron flew Albatros D.III and D.V models well into 1917. He switched to a Halberstadt D.II biplane briefly after several incidents of structural failures in the Albators' DIII lower wing spar. Richthofen himself had a scare when his own Albatros almost broke up in flight in January 1917.

By September 1917, Richthofen was flying the celebrated Fokker Dr.I triplane, the distinctive three-winged aircraft with which he is most commonly associated. Despite the popular link between Richthofen and the Fokker Dr. I, he only flew this plane in combat for the last part of his career. He made more than 60 of his kills without benefit of this now-famous triplane. In fact, it was his Albatros D.III that was first painted bright red and actually earned him his name and reputation.

He championed the development of the Fokker D.VII with suggestions to overcome the deficiencies of preceding German aircraft.^[5] However, he never had an opportunity to fly it in combat as he was killed just days before it entered service.

The Flying Circus

In January 1917, after his 16th confirmed kill, Richthofen received the Pour le Mérite, the highest military honor in Germany at the time. That same month, he assumed command of Jasta 11, which ultimately included some of the elite of Germany's pilots, many of whom he trained himself. Several in turn subsequently became leaders of their own squadrons.

As a practical aid to easy identification in the melee of air combat, Jasta 11's aircraft soon adopted red colorations with various individual markings, with some of Richthofen's own planes painted entirely red. This practice soon had its use in German propaganda, even the RFC aircrew dubbing Richthofen "Le Petit Rouge."

Richthofen led his new unit to unparalleled success, peaking during "Bloody April" of 1917. In that month alone, he downed 22 British aircraft, raising his official tally to 52. By June, he was the commander of the first of the new larger Jagdgeschwader (wing) formations, leading Jagdgeschwader 1 composed of Jastas 4, 6, 10, and 11. These were highly mobile combined tactical units that could be sent at short notice to different parts of the front as required. In this way, JG1 became "The Flying Circus" or "Richthofen's Circus", which got its name partially from the aircraft of all different colors and that they used large tents to house men and machines.

Incidentally, although he was now performing the duties of a major or a lieutenant colonel, he remained a captain, in deference to a German army tradition that a son should not hold a higher rank than his father (Richthofen's father was a reserve major in the German army).

On 6 July, in a dog fight with a formation of No. 20 Squadron's F.E.2s, Richthofen sustained a serious head wound that forced him to land near Wervicq and grounded him for several weeks. The air victory was credited to Captain Donald Cunnell of the Royal Flying Corps, who himself was killed a few days later. Richthofen later returned to combat in October 1917, but this injury is thought to have caused lasting damage, as he later often suffered from post-flight nausea and headaches, as well as a change in temperament.

Richthofen was a brilliant tactician, building on Boelcke's tactics. But unlike Boelcke, he led by example and force of will rather than by inspiration. He was often described as distant, unemotional, and rather humorless, though some colleagues contend otherwise.^[6]

In 1918, Richthofen had become such a legend that it was feared that his death would be a blow to the morale of the German people. Richthofen himself refused to accept a ground job after his wound, stating that if the average German soldier had no choice in his duties, he would therefore continue to fly in combat. Certainly he had become part of a cult of hero-worship, assiduously encouraged by official propaganda. German propaganda circulated various false rumours, including that the British had raised squadrons specially to hunt down Richthofen, and were offering large rewards and an automatic VC to any Allied pilot who shot him down.

Death

Richthofen was killed just after 11 a.m. on April 21 1918. He died after being struck by a single .303 bullet, while flying over Morlancourt Ridge, near the Somme River.

At the time the Baron had been pursuing (at very low altitude) a Sopwith Camel piloted by a novice Canadian pilot, Lieutenant Wilfrid "Wop" May of No. 209 Squadron, Royal Air Force. In turn, the Baron was spotted and chased by a Camel piloted by a school friend (and flight Commander) of May, Canadian Captain Arthur "Roy" Brown. After a brief fleeting attack from Brown (who had to dive steeply at very high speed to intervene, and then had to climb steeply to avoid hitting the ground) Richthofen resumed his pursuit of May, but Brown had very probably already saved May's life.

Brown was at the time credited with shooting down the Red Baron - although in light of modern research this actually seems unlikely. Richthofen received a single but extremely serious and inevitably fatal chest wound - it seems almost impossible that, if this was from Brown's guns, he should then have flown on after May for as long as he did.^[7]

After being hit, Richthofen managed to make a hasty but controlled landing in a field on a hill near the Bray-Corbie road, just north of the village of Vaux-sur-Somme, in a sector controlled by the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). His Fokker was not damaged by the landing. One witness, Gunner George Ridgway, stated that when he and other Australian soldiers reached the plane, Richthofen was still alive but died moments later.^[8] Another eye witness, Sergeant Ted Smout of the Australian Medical Corps, reported that Richthofen's last word was "kaputt" ("broken") immediately before he died.^[9]

No. 3 Squadron (3 Sqn) of the Australian Flying Corps, the nearest Allied air unit, assumed responsibility for von Richthofen's remains.

Who fired the fatal shot?

The identity of the person who shot the Red Baron remains unknown; .303 was the standard calibre for all machine guns and rifles used by British Empire forces during World War I. The Royal Air Force gave official credit to Roy Brown. However, it is now (after a large-scaled investigation in 1998, see under references) considered all but certain by historians, doctors, and ballistics experts that Richthofen was killed by someone on the ground, as the wound through his body indicated that it had been caused by a bullet moving in an upward motion, and, more importantly, that it was probably received some time after Brown's attack.^[10]

Some believe that the shot came from Sergeant Cedric Popkin, an anti-aircraft (AA) machine gunner with the Australian 24th Machine Gun Company, using a Vickers gun.^[11] Popkin fired at Richthofen's plane only on one occasion: once as the baron was heading straight at his position. Popkin has stated — in a letter (which included a sketch map) to the Australian official war historian in 1935 — that he believed he had fired the fatal shot as the plane approached his position the first time, and he never fired when the plane was to his left. He saw it jerk and believed that was when he hit the pilot. However, such a shot would have been from directly in front of the plane and could not have resulted in Richthofen's death.^[12]

A documentry produced by the Discovery Channel suggested that Gunner W.J. "Snowy" Evans, a Lewis machine gunner with the 53rd Battery, Royal Australian Artillery may have fired the fatal shot. This conclusion was reached after a thorough recreation, and examination of the area, and documents associated with the event.^[13]

Burial

The commanding officer of 3 Sqn, Major David Blake suggested initially that Richthofen had been killed by the crew of one of his squadron's RE8s, which had also fought Richthofen's unit that afternoon. However, following an autopsy that he witnessed, Blake became a strong proponent of the view that an AA machine gunner had killed Richthofen.

In common with most Allied air officers, Blake regarded Manfred von Richthofen with great respect, and he organized a full military funeral. Richthofen was buried in the cemetery at the village of Bertangles near Amiens on 22 April 1918. Six airmen with the rank of captain — the same rank as Richthofen — served as pallbearers, and a guard of honor fired a salute. Other Allied squadrons presented memorial wreaths.

Richthofen's aircraft was dismembered by souvenir hunters. Its engine was donated to the Imperial War Museum in London, where it is still on display.

In 1925, Manfred von Richthofen's youngest brother, Bolko, recovered the body and took it home. The family's first intention was to lay Manfred's coffin down at the Schweidnitz cemetery, beside the graves of his father and his brother, who had been killed in a post-war air crash.^{[citation needed]} But German authorities expressed a wish that the final place of rest for the body to be interred at the Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery in Berlin, where many German military heroes and leaders were buried. The family agreed. In 1975 his body was excavated and buried in his family´s tomb at the Südfriedhof in Wiesbaden.

Brain damage theory

In September 2004, researchers at the University of Missouri stated that it was likely that brain damage from the earlier head injury had played a part in the Baron's death. This theory had been published by a German researcher in the medical journal The Lancet five years earlier.^[14] His behavior after his injury was noted as consistent with brain-injured patients, and such an injury may account for his perceived lack of judgment on his final flight: flying too low over enemy territory and suffering target fixation. For unknown reasons, on his final flight, Richthofen suddenly and inexplicably strayed from several of the strict rules of aerial combat that he himself had devised and obeyed throughout his career. He may also have suffered from what is now recognized as combat fatigue: a symptom of which is a recklessness and disregard for personal safety, which may explain his final flight at low level over enemy lines.^[15]

On the other hand, it is also the case that at the time of Richthofen's death the front was in a highly fluid state, following the initial success of the German offensive of March/April 1918. It is very possible that the Baron may have been mistaken about his position relative to the front line, and underestimated the danger from light anti-aircraft fire.^[16]

Number of kills

For decades after World War I, some authors questioned whether von Richthofen achieved 80 victories, insisting that his record was exaggerated for propaganda purposes. Some claimed that he took credit for planes downed by his squadron or wing. However, in the 1990s, resurgence in Great War scholarship resulted in detailed investigation of many facets of air combat. A study conducted by British historian Norman Franks with two colleagues, published in Under the Guns of the Red Baron in 1998, concluded that at least 73 of Richthofen's claimed victories were accurate, with documented identities of the Allied airmen whom Richthofen had fought and defeated. There were also unconfirmed victories that could put his actual total as high as 84. Statistical study has also brought up the idea that chance contributed to his fame more than skills.^[17] The highest scoring allied ace was Frenchman Rene Fonck, with 75 victories and the highest scoring British imperial airman was Canadian Billy Bishop with 72 kills.

Richthofen family

Manfred von Richthofen had a royal ancestry as a great-great-grandson of the older of two illegitimate sons of Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau by one Sophie Eleonore Sölden.^{[citation needed]}

His younger brother, Lothar von Richthofen (1894–1922), was also a flying ace, with 40 victories. He served alongside his brother in Jasta 11. He died in an air crash in 1922. He was distant cousins with the German Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen,^[18] as well as Frieda von Richthofen (1879–1956), who married the English novelist D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930) in July 1914.^[19] Though their last common ancestor was born in 1661, the Red Baron's fame nonetheless attached to Frieda's reputation in war time England. Frieda's sister Else von Richthofen was the first female social scientist in Germany.

His grand-nephew, Baron Dr. Hermann von Richthofen, was German Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1993, and his name made him a media favorite.

Another grand-nephew, Manfred Alberto von Richthofen, was murdered with his wife Marisia, in their home in São Paulo, Brazil, on 31 October 2002. On 5 June 2006, his daughter, Suzane von Richthofen, along with her boyfriend and his brother, were put on trial for the murder. The case generated significant media attention in Brazil due to the stark contrast between the crime and the daughter's affluent upbringing. On 22 July 2006 Suzane was sentenced to 39 1/2 years in prison for the crime. Her boyfriend got the same sentence and his brother was sentenced to 38 1/2 years for conspiracy.

His uncle, Baron Walter von Richthofen, was also a native of Silesia. Walter von Richthofen came to Denver (Colorado, USA) in 1877 after the Franco-Prussian War, started the Denver Chamber of Commerce, and was celebrated locally as the founder of Montclair as "a fount of health and prosperity, and as a model community with enlightened planning and sophisticated architecture." His "Richthofen Castle" was one of the most sumptuous mansions in the American West. Begun in 1883 and completed in 1887, it was modeled on the original Richthofen Castle in Germany. Located immediately around the Castle are the Baron's mistress's house and his sanitarium/dairy.

He is also the 10th cousin, 6 times removed of Prince Felipe of Spain.

See also

• The Red Baron in Popular Culture
• List of World War I flying aces by number of victories
• Category:World War I aviation
• The Red Baron (film)

References

Regarding personal names: Freiherr is a former title (translated as Baron). In Germany since 1919, it forms part of family names. The feminine forms are Freifrau and Freiin.

General

• Norman Franks, et al (1998): Under the Guns of the Red Baron. Grub Street, London. ISBN 1840671459
• Norman Franks and Alan Bennett (1997): The Red Baron's Last Flight. Grub Street, London. ISBN 1904943330
• Henning Allmers: Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen's Medical Record. Was the "Red Baron" fit to fly? Lancet 1999; 354: 502-4
• David Baker (1991): Manfred von Richthofen: The man and the aircraft he flew Voyageur Press ISBN 1871547067

Concerning The Red Baron's Death

• Geoffrey Miller: The Death of Manfred von Richthofen: Who fired the fatal shot?(Journal and Proceedings of the Military History Society of Australia, Vol. XXXIX, No. 2) online available

External links

• Complete text of The Red Fighter Pilot by Manfred von Richthofen
• NOVA "Who Killed the Red Baron?"
• Manfred von Richthofen: 80 Aerial victories
• Manfred Von Richthofen's page on theaerodrome.com
• Article from Aviation History Magazine
• Prominent People - Manfred von Richthofen
• Info, Pictures and Links about Richthofen
• An English translation of the account of Bolko v. Richthofen's journey to retrieve Manfred's body
• Famous flying ace no hotshot after all - New Scientist
• Official Website of the movie The Red Baron (2007)
• The Kaiser's Hero: Manfred von Richthofen