On the twenty-third of April nineteen-eighteen, the French newspaper Le Matin published an
article: “Manfred von Richthofen, nicknamed the “Red Baron” has been shot down in
the vicinity of Amiens.
There is no certainty yet as to what exactly happened, though it is certain this will be
a huge blow for the German morale.
We see this as righteous vengeance.”
The death of the Red Baron, was indeed a huge blow to German morale, he was the highest
fighter ace with eighty victories to his name.
-intro-
Background and the outbreak of the war
Manfred von Richthofen was born on the second of May eighteen-ninety-two in Breslau.
He was the oldest son of a prominent Prussian aristocratic family.
His father, Major Albrecht von Richthofen and his mother Kunigunde von Schickfus und
Neudorff had four children: a girl, Ilse and three boys, Manfred, Lothar and Bolko.
Manfred was sent to military training when he was eleven years old and in nineteen-eleven
he joined a cavalry regiment, switching to the Deutsche Luftdienst, German air force,
in nineteen-fifteen.
Oswald Boelcke, considered the ‘father of the German fighter air force’ mentored Manfred
and noticed his talent to become a successful fighter pilot.
When the First World War broke out Manfred served at the Eastern Front as a pilot, before
being transferred to France.
In France, he attained his first victory in the air, and seventy-nine more would follow,
making him the most successful fighter ace of the first world war and granting him the
nickname ‘ace of aces’.
Von Richthofen’s Flying Circus
As Manfred kept attaining victories in the air, he was rapidly rising through the ranks
and in nineteen-seventeen he gained command over his own squadron, squadron number eleven,
the so-called “Red Pirates” and half a year later, he became the commander of “Von
Richthofen’s Flying Circus”, a group of four squadrons, in which Manfred’s brother,
Lothar served as well.
This Flying Circus consisted merely of German elite aces, and the reason for the name is
rather comical: Von Richthofen painted his aircraft red after he became the commander
of the squadron, simply stating that one day he had the urge to paint it red and decided
to follow through.
Other members of the squadron would paint their airplanes in bright colours as well,
gaining notoriety and they seemed like a… “flying circus”.
The plane Manfred flew was a Fokker Triplane (a Dr.I) and due to Manfred painting it bright
red, Manfred became known as the “Red Baron”.
The fact that he wasn’t a baron was just a minor detail, he was in fact a Freiherr,
which translates to as much as Free Lord and was a title of nobility that stems from the
time of the Holy Roman Empire.
Often, Manfred referred to the battle in the skies as an… elevated form of hunting, which
he loved when he was young.
Manfred attained his biggest feat when he shot down the British Major Lanoe Hawker,
who was at that time the most successful pilot on the British side.
Manfred referred to him as “The British Boelcke”; referring to his former mentor.
Boelcke himself would be shot down in nineteen sixteen.
Manfred nearly died in the summer of nineteen-seventeen after a battle in the skies of Flanders.
After this, he had to recuperate for a while due to an injury to his head.
Now, he wasn’t just going to wait out the war, and as soon as he could he once again
was flying above the battlefield, engaging in battle with enemy planes.
Probably because he was back in the field (or sky) his head injury hadn’t healed and
he eventually was forced to take leave, which he used to write his autobiography: Der rote
Kampfflieger.
On the twentieth of April nineteen-eighteen he attained his eightieth and last victory.
He managed to down a Sopwith Camel of the Royal Air Force and one day later he was shot
down himself.
The RAF credited Arthur Roy brown for downing Manfred, but there is near historical consensus
that the fatal shot was fired from the ground, causing a severe wound to the chest.
There have been multiple investigations about who has killed the Red Baron, but in my opinion
that isn’t too relevant and not nearly close as exciting as his life.
Ironically, on the day that Von Richthofen’s remains were found, the German radio announced
his seventy-ninth and eightieth fighter ace.
The command over the Jagdgeschwader eins, or the Flying Circus, was taken over by Hauptmann
Wilhelm Reinhard, who died in an flying incident.
The last commander of the unit was Oberleutnant Hermann Göring…
Yeah, that one.
But… that’s a story for another time.
Thank you for watching this video and what is a person or event from the First World
War that you would like to know more about, and perhaps see a video of?
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See you next time.