On the 6th July, 1917, the most deadly fighter pilot of WWI, known as the “Red Baron”,
was almost forced into early retirement when a British pilot fired a bullet that hit him
in the head. He was temporarily blinded, lost control of the aircraft, but got it down safely.
He recovered, but the British pilot was taken out just a few days later. The job of being
a fighter pilot in those days was not one with a great safety record, and in April 1918
one of the best-known dogfights took place with the Red Baron and a score of enemy pilots,
while also being fired upon by machine guns on the ground. This also resulted in bloodshed,
and many of the men fighting that day with the great pilot would become legends in their
own right.
The German air force pilot known as the Red Baron was actually named Manfred Albrecht
Freiherr von Richthofen. The word “Freiherr” means baron, a title given to male heirs of
an aristocratic German family. He was what you call a nobleman. He was also considered
the best pilot of WW1, and while he went on record admitting that his profession was a
gruesome line of work, he certainly excelled at it. Pilots of the war that were credited
with taking down a lot of enemy aircraft were known as aces, or flying aces and Richtofen
was someone very special in this respect, so much so he was feared and respected by
his enemies in equal measures and was dubbed the “ace of aces”.
That’s not to say he was leagues above other aces. French pilot René Fonck wasn’t too
far behind the Red Baron in terms of kill count, and neither was Canadian ace Billy
Bishop. The Brits had their own ace in the hole, with Edward Mannock being the British
pilot with the highest kill count during the war. The list of flying aces and the men who
took down more than 20 enemy planes is a long one, but it’s the German Empire and its
air force, known then as the Luftstreitkräfte, that really stands out.
As we said, no one stands out as much as the Red Baron. But before we tell you his story,
let’s make it clear that Richtofen always claimed he was no fan of killing. For him
it was his duty, but it wasn’t a job he enjoyed. While the Germans cheered him on
and the media made him into a celebrity, the Red Baron once wrote in his memoirs that after
facing action in the skies and taking down his enemies he would be left feeling distraught.
A natural born killer he may have been, but it seems that he was one with a conscience
and a certain admiration for his foes.
Richtofen born on May 2nd, 1892, not a good time to be born in Germany if you weren’t
itching to fight. As a young man he was already part of the German forces’ cavalry, and
in 1915 he joined the air service. Like many others during this period of German history,
he started his military training young, and Richtofen was just 11 when he started cadet
school. He still attended regular school, and it’s said he excelled at sports, winning
awards for gymnastics. He also enjoyed hunting, so with his ability to fly on the parallel
bars and take out wild boar, you could say piloting fighter planes was always in the
cards.
The cavalry, though, was becoming a thing of the past as trench warfare had quickly
become the dominant way battles would be fought. His job was antiquated, and soon the young
man was told his war effort would consist of running around delivering messages and
operating a telephone. This was not to his liking. The young baron wanted to see action,
not a job talking on the phone and doing deliveries. He got what he wanted in 1915, after earlier
applying for a position in the Luftstreitkräfte. On his application form he wrote, “I have
not gone to war in order to collect cheese and eggs, but for another purpose.”
It wasn’t long before Richthofen was flying with the bomber unit the Kampfgeschwader 2,
flying an aircraft called the Albatros C.III. He struggled at the start and didn’t exactly
impress others in the unit when he lost control of a plane early on. He did get a kill at
the beginning of his flying career, but wasn’t given credit for it. He also flew through
a thunderstorm and almost didn’t come out the other end, even though he’d been given
explicit orders not to.
But in 1916 after he joined the fighter unit Jasta 2, Richthofen got his first confirmed
kill. He would later write in his autobiography, “I honored the fallen enemy by placing a
stone on his beautiful grave.” He also went into town and got a trophy for himself, engraving
on it the date of his kill and what plane he had taken down. This is a ritual he would
do every time he took down an aircraft, and we imagine his house needed quite a large
trophy room in not much time at all.
He was a perfectionist in his plane, following the rules of something called the “Dicta
Boelcke” book of tactics. This was a list of the best aerial maneuvers for aerial combat
written by a German flying ace named Oswald Boelcke. It worked of course, although many
other successful pilots valued aggression over tactics.
He soon became famed for his wins, taking down scores of enemy aircraft. He also flew
a scarlet-colored airplane, which lead to the nickname the Red Baron. This name would
haunt enemy pilots, and The Red Baron would be talked about not just in the military,
but all across the streets of Europe. By 1917, Richthofen had already taken down 16 planes,
and after being awarded with medals he was made leader of the fighter unit Jasta 11.
In France around this time he was given the name “Le Petit Rouge” or The Little Red,
while another English name he was given was The Red Knight.
This only goes to show how much this red demon of the skies was feared by his enemies, but
also given respect for what he achieved. In Germany this was used to create propaganda,
with the media portraying him as a superhero. Actually, the Red Baron’s style of flying
wasn’t all about dazzling aerial manoeuvres, but about employing conservative tactics and
being very steady at the controls. It worked, too, because within a few months of 1917 he
had amassed over 50 kills. He was showered with medals for this of course. During this
time he was also given his very own squadron which was called Jagdgeschwader I. This became
known as “The Flying Circus.” The most famous plane in this unit was the Fokker Dr.1
triplane, but he flew a number of planes, not all of them painted bright red. Still,
he painted the skies red and took out so many enemy aircraft in the Spring that it lead
to one month being called “Bloody April.”
Then in the summer of that year he came up against British F.E.2d two seat fighters,
an event that almost ended the Red Baron’s career and the media circus that followed
his every move. A bullet grazed his head during the fight and he temporarily lost his eyesight.
The man credited with hitting the baron was Donald Cunnell, a British flying ace that
would get taken out himself soon after his little victory. The Red Baron was sent away
to get better, and while he did recover, the brain injury caused him significant pain and
even changed his personality somewhat. During his convalescence he wrote about his time
in the air force. While it’s generally believed that his descriptions of war were almost certainly
censored by the Germans before they were published, there are notable admissions in there that
don’t make war sound like fun at all, even for a celebrity flying ace. One such paragraph
goes, “I am in wretched spirits after every aerial combat. I believe that the war is not
as the people at home imagine it, with a hurrah and a roar; it is very serious, very grim.”
Still, he wanted to carry on fighting, saying every German must do his duty. Word got out
that he was coming back, and the British announced that the person who took the Red Baron out
would be guaranteed the Victoria Cross. This is the most prestigious award a person serving
in the British armed forces can be given, the equivalent of the Medal of Honor in the
U.S military.
Ironically, in the end it might have been a novice that shot down the most decorated
pilot in the German air force. This newbie was Lieutenant Wilfrid "Wop" May of No. 209
Squadron, Royal Air Force. Mr. May would achieve fame, and when he went back to his home-country
of Canada it was with much fanfare. The funny thing was, well funny to everyone except the
Red Baron, was that May later said that the only reason he didn’t get shot down was
because his flying was so bad the Red Baron couldn’t work it out. This is what May wrote
about the day he might have killed the greatest fighter pilot of the war, “I noticed it
was a red triplane, but if I realized it was Richthofen, I would have probably passed out
on the spot. I kept on dodging and spinning, I imagine from about 12,000 feet until I ran
out of sky and had to hedge hop over the ground. Richthofen was firing at me continually, and
the only thing that saved me was my poor flying. I didn't know what I was doing myself and
I do not suppose that Richthofen could figure out what I was going to do.”
It might have been May that hit the Red Baron, but it might also have been another Canadian
pilot called Arthur "Roy" Brown. You can actually read May’s log book for 21/04/18. In it,
it’s written that for about 90 minutes he was engaged with around 15 to 20 German triplanes.
At the beginning of the entry he says he took down one of those planes, a blue one. He then
wrote, “Several on my tail, came out with red triplane on my tail which followed me
down to the ground and over the line on my tail all the time got several bursts into
me but didn’t hit me. When we got across the lines he was shot down by Capt. Brown.
I saw him crash into side of hill. Came back with Capt. We afterward found out that the
triplane was the famous German airman Baron Richthofen.”
It's written that the baron must have died pretty quickly after bullets pierced his heart
and lungs. At that point his plane was painted red on the inside as well as the outside.
But Richthofen didn’t die immediately, and he managed to land his bloody aircraft in
a field north of the village of Vaux-sur-Somme in France. Australian troops were nearby and
men ran to the plane knowing who was in it. By the time they got there the Red Baron was
taking his last breaths in this world. Since a few men got there the story changes as to
what were his last words, but most of them agreed the German ace said the word “Kaputt”
which basically means broken beyond repair, or dead.
There are other theories, too, as to who made that fatal shot. Some sources say it was an
Australian ground-based machine gunner named Sergeant Cedric Popkin. You might also hear
that the shot came from the ground, from the Lewis machine gun of a man named W. J. "Snowy"
Evans who belonged to the 53rd Battery, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, Royal Australian
Artillery. The reason why there are so many names put forward is simply because it was
too hard to tell who killed who in such a chaotic scene with so many bullets were flying
around.
We do know that the Red Baron was very likely not flying at his best, almost certainly from
the brain trauma he had received when he was previously wounded which likely had impaired
his judgement.
The Australian troops buried him in France and gave him a good send off, with officers
serving as pallbearers and men firing bullets into the sky as a salute. On a wreath someone
had written the words, “To Our Gallant and Worthy Foe.” His final kill count by the
way was 80, although some sources state it was closer to 77.
What do you think about the Red Baron? Who do you think killed him? Tell us in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out The Insanely Crazy Story of a Tiny Soldier. Thanks for watching,
and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe. See you next time.