April 20, 2018

On April 21, 1918, 100 years ago tomorrow, famed German fighter pilot Baron Manfred von Richthofen <<RIHKT hoh fuhn>>, known as the Red Baron, was shot down and killed during World War I (1914-1918). Richthofen shot down 80 enemy planes before he died, making him the war’s “highest scoring” flying ace. He also trained and led his own fighter squadron. Richthofen became a celebrated hero during the war, and was known as the Red Baron because of his red-painted planes.

Baron Manfred von Richthofen, known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot during World War I (1914-1918). He was killed in action 100 years ago on April 21, 1918. Credit: © Everett Historical/Shutterstock

Manfred Albrecht von Richthofen was born into an aristocratic family on May 2, 1892, in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland). He was educated at military schools and became a cavalry officer in the German army. In 1915, Richthofen transferred to the air service. He began flying as an observer, gathering intelligence while a pilot flew the plane, but he soon took flying lessons and became a pilot himself.

In 1916, Richthofen joined the squadron of Oswald Boelcke, an accomplished fighter pilot who had developed successful air battle strategies. In 1917, Richthofen was given command of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG1, or Fighter Wing 1), famously known as “The Flying Circus” for the unit’s fantastically painted fighter planes and because of its reputation for showing up in many different locations like a traveling circus.

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The Fokker D. VII, a 1918 German fighter plane used in World War I, was known for its fast climbing ability. Credit: WORLD BOOK illustration by Tom Morgan

In April 1917, a month known as “Bloody April” to Allied airmen suffering heavy losses in northern France, Richthofen shot down an astounding 21 enemy planes. In July, he received a bullet wound to the head but managed to land his plane. He returned to combat in August as JG1 was outfitted with the famous Fokker Dr.1 triplane (a plane with three pairs of wings). The Dr.1 was infamously hard to fly, and Richthofen more often flew Albatros biplane fighters , which had the standard two pairs of wings. It was in a Dr.1, however, that the Red Baron was killed. JG1 later switched to the Fokker D.VII biplane, a plane which Richthofen helped to develop but never flew in combat. The D.VII proved to be Germany’s most effective fighter plane of the war.

During the 1918 Battles of Villers-Bretonneux in northern France, Richthofen was killed as he pursued an enemy plane far into hostile territory. He was shot through the chest, and his plane crash-landed. It is unclear whether Richthofen was brought down by Australian troops on the ground or by a Canadian pilot coming to the aid of the other plane. Richthofen’s 1917 autobiography, Der Rote Kampfflieger (The Red Air Fighter), became a German best-seller (he was 25 when it was published). Richthofen’s brother Lothar and his cousin Wolfram von Richthofen also served as a fighter pilots in JG1 (and both survived the war).