Manfred von Richthofen - Red Baron - True Knight of The Sky

 Cold, uncompromising and completely dedicated to duty, Manfred von Richthofen’s status as one of the German Air Service’s elite flying aces was challenged by 88 Allied pilots during the three years he piloted fighter planes on the Western front.

 

These Allied pilots all met the same end; they were shot down. His skill in the cockpit and fearless bravery in leading his men onto the aerial battleground of World War I earned him a lasting place in aviation history. His insistence on painting his planes red to show the Allied flyers that he held no fear also awarded him the title of the ‘Red Baron’.

Born into minor nobility in the Prussian town of Kleinburg, the young Richthofen was a deadly hunter of game animals. In fact, he loved nothing more than to stalk prey in the dark Germanic forests of Silesia – one whole room of his parents’ house was dedicated to displays of his hunting trophies. It was this craving for the chase and the kill that influenced him joining the German army at just 11 years old, training as an officer cadet at a prestigious German military school in Wahlstatt. He was not a particularly hardworking student though and, as he noted later: “I never was good at learning things. I did just enough work to pass, in my opinion it would have been wrong to do more than what was just sufficient.” Despite this apparent laziness, his horsemanship and natural shooting ability meant he didn’t need to work hard – the makings of a great warrior were already there.

 

 Befitting his aristocratic background, he joined a famed cavalry unit in 1911, the Urlans, a lancer regiment whose traditional job was to seek out enemy soldiers on the battlefield and run them through with lances. Richthofen didn’t have to wait long for his first taste of conflict, with World War I breaking out just two years after he took up formal duties with the Urlans. The trenches were no place for horses though and the cavalry was reduced to a secondary role on the front, frustrating the brash Richthofen. He had joined the cavalry for excitement and the thrill of the hunt, not to sit around in damp trenches being shot at from an enemy hundreds of yards away.

The final straw came when he was asked to act as a courier for the infantry divisions. There was no way he was going to demean his honour by acting as a courier – especially to the foot slogs in their filthy trenches. By chance, his unit was stationed near an aerodrome for the fledgling German Air Service and Richthofen was intrigued by the new flying machines stationed there.

Perhaps flying would offer him the excitement and glory he desired. He immediately signed up for the risky service and began basic flight training in 1915.

 

His first experience of flight did not mark him out as a particularly talented pilot. He admitted later: “At first we flew straight ahead, then the pilot turned to the right, then left. I had lost all sense of direction over our own aerodrome ... I didn’t care a bit where I was, and when the pilot thought it was time to go down ... I was disappointed.” Yet unlike his schooling, he had found something he truly loved and was willing to fully commit himself to: “I was already counting down the hours to the time we could start again.” He quickly gained more confidence in the air, stubbornly ignoring the air sickness he frequently suffered from and became an expert shot from the backseat of observer planes. His first kill was an unconfirmed lucky shot from a reconnaissance mission over the Champagne front – he swore it would not be his last.

By 1916 Richthofen had downed 16 enemy planes and was becoming a living legend. His technique and attitudes befitted the qualities of a brash cavalryman: “I approach the enemy from behind to within 50 metres, I aim carefully, fire and the enemy falls ... one does not need to be a clever pilot, or a crack shot, one only needs the courage to fly in close.” To Richthofen there was not much more to flying than there was to hunting, noting after one mission: “When I have shot down an Englishman my hunting passion is satisfied for a quarter of an hour.”

 

Richthofen’s finest hour came on 16 November 1916 when he battled the greatest fighter ace ever to leave the shores of England, Major Lanoe Hawker. The two met over the fields of Achiet in northern France and fought for no more than 20 minutes, but it was enough time for the Red Baron. Hawker was at a disadvantage: he was flying an obsolete FE2 ‘pusher’ plane with its propeller facing backwards, which made it less manoeuvrable than Richthofen’s fast and nimble Albatros D.III. Hawker could not outmanoeuvre his rival and decided to make a run for it. As the two lost height, ducking and diving around each other, Hawker began to run out of fuel and, in a last desperate attempt, swung his plane around to try and meet Richthofen head on – a fatal error. The German peppered Hawker’s plane with precise gunfire, scoring hits to the engine and Hawker himself. The FE2 buckled and burst into flames as it crashed to the ground.

 

 Despite the endless victories Richthofen was not infallible. In the unforgiving French skies of 1917 he was shot down, ironically by a crew piloting the same aircraft Hawker had been flying in their dog fight – the obsolete FE2. Albert Woodbridge, one of the English pilots involved recounted: “I recall there wasn’t a thing on that machine that wasn’t red and god how it could fly ... I kept a steady stream of lead pouring into the nose of that machine ... it slipped into a spin out of control.” Richthofen managed to make a crash landing but the experience of being shot down wounded him physically and mentally. When he returned to front line duties a year later his air sickness had returned.

By the beginning of 1918 the Red Baron was back in the cockpit and eager to regain his ace status, now as the leader of Jagdgeschwader 1. His appointment had actually come a year before but his injuries had prevented him from making the position his own. Jag 1 was famously known as the ‘flying circus’, the original top gun fighter squadron for hot-shot pilots, with Richthofen as their commander and greatest hero. The group were given the best planes the German military could assemble, including the famous triple-winged Fokker D-1 with its superior manoeuvrability and rate-of-climb ability. Richthofen had his D-1 painted blood red, as he did with all the planes he flew, to inspire his own pilots and to strike fear in the hearts of the enemy.

 

It was during his time with the flying circus that he set off for his last hunt on 21 April 1918. The quarry looked deceptively weak and ready for the trophy cabinet. A flight of Allied Sopwith Camels was spotted by Richthofen and his circus flying at low altitude over the fields of the Somme.

They hadn’t spotted the Red Baron’s fighter group and, sensing an easy victory, he ordered an attack. They came in hard and fast out of the sun and into the Allied planes, tearing them apart. Richthofen separated a fleeing Allied pilot from his wingman and pursued him at very low altitude, both planes running fast through the low terrain. Richthofen continued to pursue his quarry even to the Allied lines and it was here he came unstuck, as an Australian machine gunner from the ground scored a lucky shot that hit Richthofen in the face. It is still a matter of controversy if the bullet killed him instantly or if his demise came from machine gun fire from the pursued Sopwith Camel pilot that forced him down. Australian soldiers found him in the mangled red wreckage of his destroyed machine and some reports say that before he died he uttered one word: “Kaput.”

 

Richthofen was awarded full military honours by the Australian forces that found his body – his heroism was renowned even among Allied soldiers. On the memorial wreath the Allied troops inscribed the dedication: “To our gallant and worthy foe.” The greatest knight of the sky was dead aged just 25.

The arena of the skies

Flight as an arena for combat was as unforgiving as it was deadly. Many different pilots had their own tactics for survival, ranging from maintaining height and bearing down on the enemy from above with speed, to simply turning tail and running for home if an enemy with a superior machine came within range. Richthofen’s own tactics were simple and easy to learn for the rookie pilots he had in his unit: “I dive out of the sun at him taking into consideration the wind direction. Whoever reaches the enemy first has the privilege to shoot.”

Often guns jammed or pilots got separated from their flight leader. In order to avoid these problems, Richthofen made sure everyone in his unit stayed together to try and ensure all his pilots got home safely, living to fight another day. He also ensured that all his pilots checked their weapons before they took off, noting: “Machine gun jams do not exist! If they do occur it is the pilot who is to blame!”

High mortality rates plagued fighter pilots from all sides and the average life span of a pilot was just 11 days, with a pilot considered an ace after he had shot down just five enemy planes. Not only did pilots have to contend with their enemies in the sky and on the ground but mechanical failures were common on all the aircraft flying during WWI as well. In the event of an emergency pilots didn’t have parachutes so all they could do was try their best to land as safely as possible.

Confirmed kill - 17 September 1916

Having passed basic flight, Richthofen claims his first official kill over the fields of Cambrai, France flying with Oswald Boelcke.

 

While on patrol piloting the highly maneuverable Albatros D.II biplane, his squadron leader spots a group of British planes flying in formation below them, Richthofen singles out one of the planes and after a number of ducks and dives finally downs the hapless British fighter. He noted after the encounter, ‘I was animated by a single thought: the man in front of me must come down whatever happens.’

Fight of the aces - 23 November 1916

Richthofen goes head to head with one of Britain’s most famous fighter aces – Major Lanoe Hawker. Hawker was a top gun British fighter pilot who had won the Victoria Cross for shooting down three enemy aircraft during one sortie over Ypes.

After a long duel with each pilot trying to gain the advantage, Hawker runs low of fuel and a dangerous chase to the Allied lines ensues. After one last brief skirmish, Richthofen’s guns jam but not before he gets off one last burst. One of the bullets hits Hawker in the head, killing him instantly.

Life as a knight of the sky

Physical hardship

The physical rigours of early-20th century flight were not for the faint of heart. There was no enclosed cockpit and pilots were forced to ply their trade in freezing conditions at stomach-churning altitudes. A level of physical fitness was also required to operate the gears and levers inside the plane and fire the jam-prone armaments.

Technology gap

Aircraft manufacture was still a pioneering industry during this period, which led to varying degrees of effectiveness in the air. The period known as bloody April in 1917 where over 245 Allied planes were shot down was due to the Germans developing the highly manoeuvrable and agile fighter the Albatros D.III, which put every plane the Allies had at a hopeless disadvantage.

Hero worship

The ideal of the flying ace downing enemy combatants in noble combat was born and exemplified during World War I. A strict pecking order of aces developed which often left raw recruits ostracised from their squadrons. The aces themselves became heroes and symbols to the troops fighting on the ground as well as national heroes, advertised on anything from wall posters to tobacco boxes.

Mental strain

Adding to the physical hardship, the mental strain of flying temperamental aircraft in freezing conditions with little chance of survival if the plane was hit affected pilots terribly during World War I. Violent trembling, extreme weight loss, night terrors and uncontrollable fits and spasms were common among the men of the air services of combatants from all nations.

The gentleman flyer

The informal ‘gentlemanly’ rules many of the top aces lived by reflected the ideals of the ‘gentleman flyer.’ Ace pilots often only engaged fighters when they had left the ground and were up in the air, in order to give them a sporting chance and ensure it was a ‘fair fight’. If a pilot was killed in enemy territory they were given full military honours by the opposing side.