NZFF

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen ..May 2nd 1892-April 21 1918 .

I've been reading several books about this young man credited with 80 "kills" (not all died, and some still disputed) in the great war.
I always thought of him as some egotistical aristocrat in a red triplane ...wrong (imho)

He was a hunter(deer etc) and transferred this skill to aerial warfare, he was more interested in destroying the machine, not the man, but sadly the two are one ...but a nice sentiment I guess.
He understood the value of aircraft in warfare and also understood how to motivate those under him to use these to advantage.

He learnt his "craft" from people like Oswald Boelcke (40 victories) and also a keen hunter ....
Anyway, without wanting to sound like Wikipedia ...a few screens of him NOT in the famous triplane, he flew many types ...I'm assured the paint is historically correct and dates to a period in France 1917.
The Lewis gun on the top wing (if you can see it) was a Trophy and may not be historically correct, but it did happen.







wont screen the result

Boelcke was the tactician. From the german side he was the first, who understood "the hunting in the air" not as an individual thing, but a organized flight who destroy the enemy and survive as a team. von Richthofen was first more the individual type but learned fast enough teamwork... and was the right man at the time.

Way back, about the middle of the last century, our family as usual had rented for Summer a cottage in the Highlands, near Arisaig to be exact. One year, it was very wet, and I discovered a book titled 'The Red Baron', which was about Richthofen
I read it again and again. I would have been about 8 years old then, not much more.

Also in the last century:
I grew up with Charles Schultz's vision and never questioned why the Beagle always lost



We all knew the Red Baron was a bit of a cad although he was never seen.
Yet begrudgingly, we knew he was The Best.
As I recall, Snoopy flew a Sopwith Camel, and that might explain a lot.

The book was actually this one:
Author: GIBBONS, FLOYD.
Title: THE RED KNIGHT OF GERMANY - BARON VON RICHTHOFEN, GERMANY'S GREAT WAR AIRMAN.
Publisher: Cassell and Company, London, 1933.
Description: 408 pp including index, gift inscription on front end-paper, edges mildly foxed, related newspaper cuttings pasted to front paste-down and rear blanks, boards lightly flecked, else very good copy in red, cloth boards.

There was a copy available at a sensible from Hard-to-find-books in Dunedin, but for the same dollars there was one in Victoria, which had related newspaper clippings attached to the end papers. Should nearly be here by now.

There is a lot of nonsense fabricated from english-speaking Media.

Look at his own book. and not what others have written over him.

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Fighter-Pilo ... richthofen