Who was THE RED BARON? 🛩

florijansworld (41)in #history • 7 years ago

Manfred von Richthofen, better known as THE RED BARON or DER ROTE BARON in German, is one of the best known fighter pilots of all time. Manfred Albert Freiherr von Richthofen was born on May, 1892, and was one of four children, in Wroclaw which today is located in Poland.

After he graduated from cadet school he joined the Prussian Ulanen - Regiment in 1911. There, he became part of the. As WWI broke out in July 1914, the young and ambitious Richthofen felt unchallenged in the Ulanen Regiment because of the daily routine. In mid 1915 he joined the Flight-Back-up-Division trainee program. He is supposed to have written in his application for transfer: "I have not gone to war in order to collect cheese and eggs, but for another purpose." In spite of this nonmilitary attitude, and to his own surprise, his request was granted, and he joined the flying service at the end of May 1915.

He began as an observer and in June had his first recognizance flight over the Eastern Front. In August, he was transferred to the Western Front again, only to be relocated to Metz in September. On his way to Metz, Richthofen met the famous pilot Oswald Boelcke. He then completed a full drill to become a fighter pilot. He struggled to control his aircraft, and crashed during his first flight at the controls. Despite his poor start, he rapidly became attuned to his aircraft.

He met Oswald Boelcke again in August 1916. Boelcke selected Richthofen to join "Jagdstaffel 2". After his first confirmed victory, Richthofen contacted a jeweler in Berlin and ordered a silver cup engraved with the date and the type of enemy aircraft.

(Oswald Boelcke)

On 23rd of November, 1916, Richthofen downed his most famous enemy: flying ace Lanoe Hawker. That was the day the legend of the Red Baron was finally born. In January 1917 Richthofen took over the leadership of the Jagdstaffel 11. To this day, the British call April 1917 “bloody April” because the average lifespan of a British pilot dropped from 295 Hours to only 92 Hours that month.

(Hawker's plane)

Richthofen's division played a large part in that new static. In July 1917 Richthofen was hit while flying and suffered a head injury. He had to make his forced landing almost blind.

Because of the constant relocation of Richthofen's division to different scenes of action along the Western Front, the division was often compared to a circus. The aerial maneuvers and formations were also quite similar to the performance of circus artists. Richthofen's Fokker Triplane was painted signal red. Because of this he was known as the Red Baron.
On April 21th 1918 the “Flying Circus” took off for an operation near Vaux-sur-Somme. Richthofen managed to land his plane but died shortly afterwards on the ground.

(Richthofen's red Fokker Triplane)

The Red Baron is considered the top ace of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories. He received several awards such as the Pour le Mérite, one of the highest Prussian medals of war. Even the Enemy regarded Richthofen with great respect, and he received a full military funeral.

(Richthofen's military funeral)