Okla-homey
4/21/2006, 05:54 AM
April 20, 1918: Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron" was killed in action
On this day 88 years ago in the skies over Vauz sur Somme, France, Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German flying ace known as "The Red Baron" by British aircrews, is killed by Allied fire.
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/7960/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz26.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Manfred von Richthofen
Von Richthofen (pronounced "fon-RICK-toeffun"), the son of a Prussian nobleman, switched from the German army to the Imperial Air Service in 1915. By 1916, he was terrorizing the skies over the western front in an Fokker "Albatross" biplane, downing 15 enemy planes by the end of the year, including one piloted by British flying ace Major Lanoe Hawker.
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/8850/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz19.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Fokker D-5 "Albatross"
In 1917, Richthofen surpassed all flying ace records in WWI and began using a Fokker triplane, painted entirely red in tribute to his old cavalry regiment. Although only used during the last eight months of his career, it is this aircraft that Richthofen was most commonly associated with and it led to an enduring English nickname for the German pilot which also incorporated von Richthofen's title of Prussian nobility--the Red Baron.
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/6973/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz16.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Fokker DR-1
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/7960/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz26.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
It is believed one of the reasons von Richthofen was so phenomenally successful in aerial combat is because he had extraordinarily good eyesight --estimated at 15-15. Even in dogfights today, the guy who is first to spot his opponent usually wins because he gets a head start on working out the geometry necessary to quickly get in position to get the first shot. (This also explains why today's USAF will provide the "lasik" corrective procedure for any fighter guy who needs it.)
On April 21, 1918, with 80 victories under his belt, Richthofen penetrated deep into Allied territory in pursuit of a British aircraft. The Red Baron was flying too low over the trenches and as near as anyone has ever been able to establish--an Australian soldier firing at Richthofen's aircraft got lucky and a .303 rifle bullet blasted through the fabric and wood of von Richthofen's cockpit and fatally pierced his chest.
The Fokker "Tridecker" plane crashed into a field alongside the road from Corbie to Bray. Another account has Captain A. Roy Brown, a Canadian in the Royal Air Force, actually shot the baron down in the same engagement. We'll probably never know for sure which of the two theories is fact but a field autopsy report filed by a British surgeon seems to favor the first theory.
Copy extract from A.H.File No. 21/13/506
In the Field
22nd April 1918
We have made a surface examination of Captain Baron von Richthofen and find that there are only the entrance and exit wounds of one rifle bullet on the trunk. The entrance wound is on the right side about the level of the ninth-rib, which is fractured, just in front of the posterior axillary line. The bullet appears to have passed obliquely backwards through the chest striking the spinal column , from which it glanced in a forward direction and issued on the left side of the chest, at a level about two inches higher than its entrance on the right and about in the anterior axillary line.
There was also a compound fracture of the lower jaw on the left side, apparently not caused by a missile - and also some minor bruises of the head and face.
The body was not opened - these facts were ascertained by probing from the surface wounds.
(Sgd) Thomas Sinclair
Colonel AMS
Consulting surgeon IV Army
BEF
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6195/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz24.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
von Richthofen's funeral
Anyhoo, Australian troops recovered his body, and he was buried with full military honors. Later, a British pilot flew over von Richthofen's squadron airfield and dropped a wreath to which was attached a photo of the funeral so his squadronmates would know he had been honored in death.
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6577/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz25.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On the day von Richthofen "bought the farm" he was 25 years old. In a time of wooden and fabric aircraft, when 20 air victories ensured a pilot legendary status, Manfred von Richthofen downed 80 enemy aircraft and is regarded to this day as the ace of aces.
As an aside, among the members of von Richthofen's squadron was another ace named Hermann Goering who would eventually rise to command Hitler's Luftwaffe and play a prominent role in the Nazi government.
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/9161/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz17.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Goering as a young German pilot in WWI
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/5059/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz18.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Von Richthofen's squadron lineage continues to the present day. The modern German Luftwaffe sports a fighter squadron named in honor of the "Red Baron." It is equipped with MiG-29 "Fulcrum" aircraft the West German Luftwaffe inherited from the air force of the former East Germany when the two states merged to form modern Germany.
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/9615/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzm.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Insignia of jagdeschwader Richthofen
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/6577/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz25.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Modern Luftwaffe MiG-29 of fighter squadron "Richthofen"
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/4805/insane7zo7yo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On this day 88 years ago in the skies over Vauz sur Somme, France, Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German flying ace known as "The Red Baron" by British aircrews, is killed by Allied fire.
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/7960/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz26.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Manfred von Richthofen
Von Richthofen (pronounced "fon-RICK-toeffun"), the son of a Prussian nobleman, switched from the German army to the Imperial Air Service in 1915. By 1916, he was terrorizing the skies over the western front in an Fokker "Albatross" biplane, downing 15 enemy planes by the end of the year, including one piloted by British flying ace Major Lanoe Hawker.
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/8850/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz19.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Fokker D-5 "Albatross"
In 1917, Richthofen surpassed all flying ace records in WWI and began using a Fokker triplane, painted entirely red in tribute to his old cavalry regiment. Although only used during the last eight months of his career, it is this aircraft that Richthofen was most commonly associated with and it led to an enduring English nickname for the German pilot which also incorporated von Richthofen's title of Prussian nobility--the Red Baron.
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/6973/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz16.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Fokker DR-1
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/7960/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz26.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
It is believed one of the reasons von Richthofen was so phenomenally successful in aerial combat is because he had extraordinarily good eyesight --estimated at 15-15. Even in dogfights today, the guy who is first to spot his opponent usually wins because he gets a head start on working out the geometry necessary to quickly get in position to get the first shot. (This also explains why today's USAF will provide the "lasik" corrective procedure for any fighter guy who needs it.)
On April 21, 1918, with 80 victories under his belt, Richthofen penetrated deep into Allied territory in pursuit of a British aircraft. The Red Baron was flying too low over the trenches and as near as anyone has ever been able to establish--an Australian soldier firing at Richthofen's aircraft got lucky and a .303 rifle bullet blasted through the fabric and wood of von Richthofen's cockpit and fatally pierced his chest.
The Fokker "Tridecker" plane crashed into a field alongside the road from Corbie to Bray. Another account has Captain A. Roy Brown, a Canadian in the Royal Air Force, actually shot the baron down in the same engagement. We'll probably never know for sure which of the two theories is fact but a field autopsy report filed by a British surgeon seems to favor the first theory.
Copy extract from A.H.File No. 21/13/506
In the Field
22nd April 1918
We have made a surface examination of Captain Baron von Richthofen and find that there are only the entrance and exit wounds of one rifle bullet on the trunk. The entrance wound is on the right side about the level of the ninth-rib, which is fractured, just in front of the posterior axillary line. The bullet appears to have passed obliquely backwards through the chest striking the spinal column , from which it glanced in a forward direction and issued on the left side of the chest, at a level about two inches higher than its entrance on the right and about in the anterior axillary line.
There was also a compound fracture of the lower jaw on the left side, apparently not caused by a missile - and also some minor bruises of the head and face.
The body was not opened - these facts were ascertained by probing from the surface wounds.
(Sgd) Thomas Sinclair
Colonel AMS
Consulting surgeon IV Army
BEF
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6195/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz24.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
von Richthofen's funeral
Anyhoo, Australian troops recovered his body, and he was buried with full military honors. Later, a British pilot flew over von Richthofen's squadron airfield and dropped a wreath to which was attached a photo of the funeral so his squadronmates would know he had been honored in death.
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6577/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz25.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On the day von Richthofen "bought the farm" he was 25 years old. In a time of wooden and fabric aircraft, when 20 air victories ensured a pilot legendary status, Manfred von Richthofen downed 80 enemy aircraft and is regarded to this day as the ace of aces.
As an aside, among the members of von Richthofen's squadron was another ace named Hermann Goering who would eventually rise to command Hitler's Luftwaffe and play a prominent role in the Nazi government.
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/9161/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz17.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Goering as a young German pilot in WWI
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/5059/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz18.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Von Richthofen's squadron lineage continues to the present day. The modern German Luftwaffe sports a fighter squadron named in honor of the "Red Baron." It is equipped with MiG-29 "Fulcrum" aircraft the West German Luftwaffe inherited from the air force of the former East Germany when the two states merged to form modern Germany.
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/9615/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzm.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Insignia of jagdeschwader Richthofen
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/6577/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz25.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Modern Luftwaffe MiG-29 of fighter squadron "Richthofen"
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/4805/insane7zo7yo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)