Okla-homey
9/17/2007, 05:51 AM
Sept 17, 1916: Manfred von Richthofen gets kill #1
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/7960/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz26.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Manfred von Richthofen
81 years ago, on this day in 1916, the German air ace Manfred von Richthofen—known to history as the "Red Baron"—shoots down his first enemy plane over the Western Front during World War I.
von Richthofen (pronounced fon rik'-toe''-fun,) the son of a Prussian nobleman, switched from the German army to the Imperial Air Service in 1915. He became the star pupil and protégé of Oswald Boelcke, one of Germany’s most successful fighter pilots. After seeing action over the Eastern Front, where he bombed Russian forces and railway junctions, Richthoften began his legendary career in the west.
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/28613/2006146302083174104_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006146302083174104)
Oswald Boelcke, German inventor of air combat
On September 17, 1916, in his first trip in a combat patrol commanded by Boelcke, Richthofen found himself and his Albatross biplane engaged in aerial combat by a plane piloted by British Second Lieutenant Lionel Morris.
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/8850/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz19.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Fokker D-5 "Albatross"
Richthofen later recounted the experience:
"My Englishman twisted and turned, flying in zig-zags. I was animated by a single thought: ‘The man in front of me must come down, whatever happens.’ At last a favorable moment arrived. My opponent had apparently lost sight of me. Instead of twisting and turning he flew straight along. In a fraction of a second I was at his back with my excellent machine. I gave a short burst of shots with my machine-gun. I had gone so close that I was afraid I might dash into the Englishman. Suddenly I nearly yelled with joy, for the propeller of the enemy machine had stopped turning. Hurrah! I had shot his engine to pieces; the enemy was compelled to land, for it was impossible for him to reach his own lines."
Richthofen followed the enemy plane to the ground, landing close to the German lines, where he discovered that both the pilot and the observer that accompanied him, Lieutenant T. Rees, were mortally wounded.
By the end of 1916, Richthofen had downed 15 enemy planes. The following year, he surpassed all flying-ace records on both sides of the Western Front.
In 1917, Richthofen 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 from the trenches 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 April 21, 1918, 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 with 80 kills 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)
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/7960/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz26.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Manfred von Richthofen
81 years ago, on this day in 1916, the German air ace Manfred von Richthofen—known to history as the "Red Baron"—shoots down his first enemy plane over the Western Front during World War I.
von Richthofen (pronounced fon rik'-toe''-fun,) the son of a Prussian nobleman, switched from the German army to the Imperial Air Service in 1915. He became the star pupil and protégé of Oswald Boelcke, one of Germany’s most successful fighter pilots. After seeing action over the Eastern Front, where he bombed Russian forces and railway junctions, Richthoften began his legendary career in the west.
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/28613/2006146302083174104_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006146302083174104)
Oswald Boelcke, German inventor of air combat
On September 17, 1916, in his first trip in a combat patrol commanded by Boelcke, Richthofen found himself and his Albatross biplane engaged in aerial combat by a plane piloted by British Second Lieutenant Lionel Morris.
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/8850/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz19.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Fokker D-5 "Albatross"
Richthofen later recounted the experience:
"My Englishman twisted and turned, flying in zig-zags. I was animated by a single thought: ‘The man in front of me must come down, whatever happens.’ At last a favorable moment arrived. My opponent had apparently lost sight of me. Instead of twisting and turning he flew straight along. In a fraction of a second I was at his back with my excellent machine. I gave a short burst of shots with my machine-gun. I had gone so close that I was afraid I might dash into the Englishman. Suddenly I nearly yelled with joy, for the propeller of the enemy machine had stopped turning. Hurrah! I had shot his engine to pieces; the enemy was compelled to land, for it was impossible for him to reach his own lines."
Richthofen followed the enemy plane to the ground, landing close to the German lines, where he discovered that both the pilot and the observer that accompanied him, Lieutenant T. Rees, were mortally wounded.
By the end of 1916, Richthofen had downed 15 enemy planes. The following year, he surpassed all flying-ace records on both sides of the Western Front.
In 1917, Richthofen 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 from the trenches 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 April 21, 1918, 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 with 80 kills 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)