One figure from World War I triggers instant recognition. Manfred von Richtofen, better known as the "Red Baron," was the best-known German ace. He remains alive today in fiction, comic books, Hollywood movies, and even appears as the adversary of Snoopy in Charles Schultz’s Peanuts cartoon. In reality, he was an effective, skilled pilot who shot down more Allied pilots than any other German in the war.

 

The nickname the "Red Baron" was not arbitrary: von Richtofen was minor nobility. The "red" in his nickname came from his red airplanes (his cavalry unit’s color) that helped ground troops identify and confirm his kills. It was the veterans among these ground troops who, awe-inspired by what they had seen, spun the stories about the "Red Baron" after the war.

 

Von Richtofen was born in 1892 in Poland. At the age of eleven, he was sent to cadet school in Germany and then to the War College at Danzig. Upon graduation at age twenty, von Richtofen received a commission as a lieutenant with an uhlan (light cavalry) unit. As World War I began, he was leading his unit against the Russians, performing mostly reconnaissance work on horseback. But the invention of the machine gun meant that the safest way to conduct combat was from the shelter of a trench. Horses (and cavalry troops) became obsolete. After watching airplanes performing reconnaissance duties, he applied for a transfer to the flying corps.

 

In June 1915, von Richtofen began attending flying school, where he trained as an aerial observer, then joined a bombing squadron. There, in the observer’s seat, he shot down his first enemy aircraft using a Parabellum machine gun. Inspired by a visit to the unit by German aviation hero Oswald Boelke, and craving success and glory, von Richtofen went to pilot’s training. The training was difficult, as he lacked a natural affinity for the mechanics of flying. But his persistence and extra practice flights paid off. He passed the pilot’s exam on his third try.

 

Von Richtofen arrived on the Western Front toward the end of the Battle of Verdun. In an Albatros C.11 reconnaissance airplane with a machine gun he attached to the top wing, he shot down his first plane, a French Nieuport. But it landed on the French side of the lines and could not be confirmed as a kill. He then was sent to the Eastern Front to counteract the Russian Brusilov offensive. There, Boelke found him and sensing potential, signed him up for Jasta 2, a specially organized aerial combat unit that Boelke formed. Von Richtofen began training to become a topnotch combat flyer.

 

His unit completed training and debuted on September 17, 1916. On that day, von Richtofen shot down a British Farman Fe.26 airplane, his first confirmed kill. His skills learned from Boelke, along with his uhlan combat tactics and his lifelong hunting skills, produced a deadly fighter pilot, who focused on the kill and had the patience to see it through.

 

On October 28, von Richtofen watched as Boelke collided in midair with another member of Jasta 2. He felt as if "a favorite brother had been taken from us." Von Richtofen joined the nation in mourning, and as Germany’s highest-scoring living ace, he carried the cushion bearing Boelke’s medals at the funeral. He was then given command of Jasta 2, renamed Jasta Boelke.

 

Flying an Albatros D.1 biplane painted with red stripes, von Richtofen continued to score victories. On November 23, he shot down Lanoe Hawker, Britain’s first ace. In January 1917, he had his sixteenth confirmed kill and was awarded the Ordré pour le Mérite. He also received command of a new unit, Jasta 11.

 

Von Richtofen organized Jasta 11 based on the Boelke’s model for Jasta 2. As a teacher as well as leader, von Richtofen trained the pilots in aerial tactics and strategies. The principles of formation flying were strictly enforced--pilots were never to fly or attack without assistance. Pilots were also warned not to be reckless or showy when flying against the enemy. Von Richtofen felt that the reason so many British pilots died was that they lost themselves "looping, diving, flying upside down…," actions von Richtofen found to be "reckless and useless." The pilots of Jasta 11 were taught to hunt the enemy by remaining quiet, then attacking with the element of surprise at the perfect moment. Many of the pilots of Jasta 11 rose to the rank of ace—Werner Voss, Ernst Udet, and Lothar von Richtofen, Manfred’s younger brother.

 

In April 1917, Jasta 11 became the lead unit for what became known as Bloody April. During that month, the reputation of the "Red Baron" grew till he truly became a legend. Jasta 11 scored 89 victories, 21 of which were by von Richtofen. Both sides of the trenches witnessed the kills and sent the news home of the red airplane’s deadly success. The legend was further fueled by the publication of von Richtofen’s autobiography Der rote Kampfflieger (The Red Battle Flyer).

 

The first Jagdgeschwader (JG 1), a flying group made up of four jastas, was formed on June 24 with von Richtofen as commander. The JG 1 became known as the Richtofen Flying Circus because all the planes were painted bright colors for easy identification. And like a circus, they traveled by train to wherever they were needed. But JG 1 was not playing a child’s game. It never performed escort duty, concentrating exclusively on intercepting or hunting enemy planes. The pilots of JG 1 scored more victories and generated more aces than any unit in the German Air Service. From June 1917 until November 1918, they scored an amazing 644 victories while losing only 52 of their own planes.

 

The pilots of JG.1 had access to the latest aviation technology and were given the Fokker Dr.1 triplane as soon as it became available. The solid red Fokker triplane was the airplane most associated with the "Red Baron," although he scored only 20 victories with it. Designer Anthony Fokker consulted with von Richtofen on the design of the DR.1 as well as the D.VIII, considered the best fighter plane of the war.

 

But he was not invincible. In July 1917, von Richtofen was shot down, and although he survived with only a head wound, the German High Command began pressuring him to stop flying, worried that his death would damage German morale. They sent him on public relations tours and gave him administrative work to perform. But all he wanted to do was fly, so he always returned to the Front to collect more victories. 

 

By the spring of 1918, German air superiority had ended. The British Sopwith Camels and French Spads were defeating the German planes regularly. Von Richtofen’s red Fokker triplane was often the target of the Allied pilots, who now had faster and more maneuverable airplanes. Pressures from the enemy increasingly led him to abandon his training and personal combat rules and he often found himself flying without support or being pushed far into enemy territory, often saved only by luck. The thrill of the hunt and kill were fading for him.  He wrote to his mother "I am in wretched spirits after every battle….I think of this war as it really is…it is very serious, very grim."

 

On April 21, 1918, a single bullet, fired either by Australian artillerymen on the ground or by Canadian pilot Arthur Brown, pierced von Richtofen’s heart and his plane crashed. British forces recovered his body and he was buried with full military honors.

 

Since his death, the "Red Baron" has remained alive in the legends of war. Charles Lindbergh, like many other youngsters of his time, idolized the "Red Baron." In memory, the "Red Baron" has grown to represent chivalry, bravery, and a cold-blooded approach to killing the enemy in the air. He is the ultimate pilot who always got his man.

 

--Pamela Feltus

 

Sources and Further Reading:

Franks, Norman, et al. Under the Guns of the Red Baron: The Complete Record of Von Richthofen's Victories and Victims Fully Illustrated. London: Grub Street, 1998.

Fritzche, Peter. A Nation of Fliers: German Aviation and the Popular Imagination. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992.

Kilduff, Peter. Germany’s First Air Force 1914-1918. London: Arms & Armour Press, 1991.

__________. Richtofen: Beyond the Legend of the Red Baron. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1993.

Lawson, Eric and Jane. The First Air Campaign, August 1914-November 1918. Pennsylvania: Combined Books, 1996.

Pisano, Dominick A., et al. Legend, Memory, and the Great War in the Air. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998.

Wohl, Robert. A Passion for Wings: Aviation and the Western Imagination 1908-1918. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994.

 

Red Baron Biography: http://www.briggsenterprises.com/bluemax.

Richtofen, Manfred von. Der Rote Kampfflieger. On-line edition: http://www.richthofen.com.

 

 

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