HUMOUR
He was the most successful, and certainly the most famous flying ace of the First World War (1914-1918). Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen had 80 confirmed air combat victories (known as ‘kills’) to his name from September 1916 to April 1918. He was known as the ‘Red Baron’. Born is Breslau, Silesia, East Germany (which is now Wroclaw, Poland) on 2 May 1892, Richthofen moved with his family to Schweidnitz (now Swidnica, Poland) in 1901 and enjoyed hunting and horse riding, just like any other aristocratic Prussian. After completing cadet training in 1911, he joined a cavalry unit known as the Uhlan Regiment Czar Alexander III of Russia (1st Battalion, West Prussia) and served as a cavalry scout on both the eastern and western fronts. When horses became obsolete due to barbed wire and machine guns the Uhlans were disbanded and Richthofen was transferred to the supply corps. Shortly after that he applied to be transferred to the air service and in May 1915 became an aircraft observer, earning the nickname ‘The flying Uhlan’. Inspired by a chance meeting with the great air ace Oswald Boelcke, the young airman decided he wanted to be a fighter pilot himself, and Boelcke soon selected Richthofen to join his elite fighter squadron (Jagdstaffel) Jasta 2. The budding ace took to the skies in an Albatross D.III aircraft with twin Spandau machine guns mounted just forward of his cockpit and won his first aerial combat over Cambrai, France on 17 September
1916. Richthofen then ordered a silver cup and had it engraved with the date of
the dogfight and details of the enemy machine he had downed. The Prussian air-ace continued this tradition until he had 60 cups. He was unable to order any more because by this time (late 1917) the supply of silver in blockaded Germany was restricted. Manfred von Richthofen viewed his aircraft as not much more than a
platform from which to fire his guns, and from that standpoint his skills as an aerial marksman were unsurpassed. On 23 November 1916, Richthofen shot down the renowned British ace Lanoe Hawker, after a long air duel. After this engagement, Richthofen became convinced that he needed an aircraft with more agility, even though this implied a loss of air speed. But the Albatross D.III and D.V models were the mainstay of the German air service at that time and it was not until September 1917 that he first flew the Fokker Dr.I triplane, the distinctive three-winged aircraft with which he is most commonly associated. In January 1917, after his 16th confirmed ‘kill’, Richthofen was awarded Le Pour le Merite, the highest military honour in Germany at that time. Later that month he assumed command of Jasta II, which ultimately included some of the elite of Germany’s pilots, including a man named Hermann Goering, who was later to command Germany’s fearsome Luftwaffe in World War II. As a practical aid to easy identification in the melee of aerial combat, Jasta II’s adopted red markings on their aircraft. Richthofen and some others had their aircraft painted entirely red, marking them out clearly to themselves and the enemy. As a psychological and propaganda warfare tactic, this was an amazing success. Richthofen led his new unit to many victories, which peaked during whatbecame known as ‘Bloody April’ of 1917. In that month, he alone downed 22 British aircraft, raising his official tally to 52. By June that year he was the commander of the one of the new larger Jagdgeschwader (wing) formations. These were highly mobile combined units that could be sent at short notice to different areas of the front as required. That was how JG1 became known as ‘The Flying Circus’ or ‘Richthofen’s Circus’ which stemmed from the brightly-coloured aircraft and the fact that the unit was moved around combat zones and housed in large tents – men and machines housed together. However on 6 July whilst taking on a formation of British FE-2 aircraft, Richthofen sustained a serious head wound that grounded him for several weeks. Whilst recuperating in hospital the Germany propaganda machine sought to popularise the dashing Baron as a romantic war hero by associating him with a pretty German nurse, though the extent of their relationship remains unknown. When he returned to flying combat missions in October 1917, however, Richthofen was a changed man, suffering from post-flight nausea and headaches, indicating perhaps that the head injury had a lasting effect on him. By early 1918, Richthofen has become such a legend among Germany forces that it was feared by his superiors that
his death would be a severe blow to morale, both at home and abroad. German High Command urged him to retire, but he refused, stating that it was his duty to carry on the fight in support of the Kaiser’s common foot soldiers, mired down in the mud and with no choice but to fight. Sure enough, the great German air ace was killed just after 11am on 21 April 1918. Richthofen died after being struck by a single .303 round while flying over Morlancourt Ridge near the Somme River. He was just 11 days shy
of his 26th birthday. The famous ‘Red Baron’ had been pursuing a Sopwith Camel piloted by a Canadian, Lieutenant Wilfred ‘Wop’ May of 209 Squadron of the newly-formed British Royal Air Force (previously this had been the Royal Air Corps, a winged branch of the British Army). Seeing his old school-friend May in danger, another Canadian, Captain Arthur ‘Roy’ Brown, swooped down and fired on Richthofen. The German ace turned to look back at Brown, disengaged his pursuit of May and lost altitude dramatically. As he flew just 50 feet (15 metres) above
Allied lines he was hit by the fatal bullet, which entered through the right lower abdomen. It then passed diagonally through his chest and tumbled end-over-end, producing an elongated exit wound below his left nipple. Though fatally wounded, Richthofen managed to make a hasty but controlled landing in a field on a hill near the Bray- Corbie road, just north of the village of Vaux-sur-Somme, in a sector controlled by the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Though his face was cut badly by being slammed into the instrument panel, the 3-winged Fokker was not badly
damaged. One witness, Gunner George Ridgway, stated that when he and other
Australian soldiers reached the aircraft, Richthofen was still alive but died
seconds later. Richthofen was buried with full military honours in the cemetery at the village of Bertangles near Amiens on 22 April 1918. There was a kind of modern chivalry practiced among opposing airmen in those days: that afternoon, an Allied pilot dropped a wreath over the airfield where Jasta II was stationed. The identity of the person who shot the Red Baron remains unknown. Point 303 ammunition was the standard calibre for all machine guns and rifles used by British Empire Forces during
World War 1. Though the RAF (and Brown) were quick to claim the historic ‘kill’, it is considered all but certain by historians, doctors and ballistics experts that Richthofen was killed by an antiaircraft (AA) machine gunner. The wound through his body indicated that it had been caused by a round moving in an upward motion, providing ample evidence of a shot being fired from the ground. Most experts believe that the shot probably came from Sergeant Cedric Popkin of the 24th Australian Machine Gun Company. Popkin, firing a tripodmounted Vickers gun, was the only ground-based machine gunner known to have fired at Richthofen from the right, immediately before he landed. Several Australian riflemen were also shooting at The Red Baron’s craft from his right at the time, and it is entirely possible that one of them may well have fired the fatal shot. The RAF gave official credit to Roy Brown in spite of evidence against this. It has been calculated that Richthofen could have lived for only 20 to 30 seconds after he was hit and Brown had not fired at him within that time frame i.e. the German ace broke off pursuing May and flew on for about two minutes after engaging with Brown. Other sources have suggested that Gunners Robert Buie or W J ‘Snowy’ Evans, both Lewis machine gunners with the 53rd Battery, Royal Australian Artillery, may have been the ones to kill Richthofen. (A 2002 TV documentary states that Evans killed the German ace). This has been rejected by most experts as Buie and Evans fired straight at the Fokker D.III, making it very difficult for either of them to have hithim from the right as the wound clearly indicated. The Red Baron was finally interred at the Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery in Berlin in 1925 after his younger brother Bolko recovered the body and took it home.
An article in the medical journal ‘The Lancet’ in 1999 notes that Richthofen’s behaviour on the morning of 21 April 1918 was consistent with brain-injury patients, and such an injury may account for his perceived lack of judgement on his final
flight, as he was flying too low over enemy territory and suffering from target fixation. On that morning Richthofen certainly strayed from several strict rules of aerial combat that he himself had devised and obeyed throughout his brilliant military
career.The journal also surmises that he may also have suffered from what is now recognised as ‘combat fatigue’: a symptom of which is recklessness and disregard for personal safety, which may explain his final flight at low level over enemy lines.
In modern popular culture (including a song and cartoon), the Red Baron has become a symbol for dexterity and daring combined with an element of tragedy as being ‘on the losing side’ characterised by his death in combat. To the Germans and the Allies, he is still regarded as ‘The Ace of Aces’. ÑA TA LE FROM IRAQ Dan Rather, Katie Couric and an Israeli sergeant were all captured by radical Islamic terrorists in Iraq. The leader of the terrorists told them that they could each have one last request granted before they were beheaded in front of video cameras. Dan Rather said, “Well, as I’m a Texan, I’d like a bowl of hot spicy chili.” An underling left and returned with the chili. Rather scoffed it down and then said, “Now I can die content.” Katie Couric said, “I’m a reporter to the end. I want to take out my tape recorder and describe the scene here and what is about to happen. Maybe someday someone will hear it and know that I was on the job until the end.” The leader directed an aide to hand over her tape recorder and Couric dictated some comments. Then she said, “Now I can die content.” The terrorist leader then asked, “Now, Mister Israeli tough guy, what’s your final wish?” “Kick me in the arse!” said the sergeant. “What?” asked the astonish terrorist. “No, I’m not kidding”, said the Israeli, “I want you to kick me in the
arse!” So the terrorist leader shoved him out into the open and kicked his rear end hard. The soldier went sprawling, but rolled to his knees, pulled out a pistol from one of his boots and shot the terrorist dead. In the resulting confusion, he jumped to his knapsack, pulled out his automatic rifle and sprayed the other terrorists with a hail
of rounds. In a flash, all terrorists were either dead or fleeing for their lives. As the soldier was untying Rather and Couric, they asked him, “Why didn’t you just shoot them? Why did you ask them to kick you in the rear first?” “What?” replied the Israeli, “and have you two big shots report that I was the aggressor?” ÑDIM WITS * Jeremy Paxman: “What is another name for ‘Cherrypickers’ and ‘Cheesemongers”? Contestant: “Homosexuals.” Paxman: “No, they are regiments in the British Army who will be very upset with you.” (University Challenge, BBC 2) * Jamie Theakston: “Where do you think Cambridge University is?” Contestant: “Geography is not my strong point.” Theakston: “There’s a clue in the title.” Contestant: “Leicester?”
(Beg, Borrow or Steal, BBC2) * Stewart White: “Who had a worldwide hit with ‘What a Wonderful World’? Contestant: “I don’t know.” White: “I’ll give you some clues. What do you call the part between your hand and your elbow?” Contestant: “Arm.” White: ‘Correct. And if you are not weak, you are…..? Contestant: “Strong.” White: “Correct. And what was Lord Mountbatten’s first name?” Contestant: “Louis.”
White: “Well, there we are then. So who had a worldwide hit with ‘What aWonderful World’ ”? Contestant: “Frank Sinatra?” (BBC Norfolk) * Alex Trelinski: “What is the capital of Italy? Contestant: “France.” Trelinski: “France is another country. Try again.” Contestant: “Oh, um; Benidorm.” Trelinski: “Wrong again. So let’s try another question. In which country is the Parthenon?” Contestant: “Sorry, I don’t know.” Trelinski: “Just guess at a country then.” Contestant: “Paris?” (Late Show, BBC Midlands) * Anne Robinson: Oscar Wilde, Adolf Hitler and Jeffrey Archer have all written books about their experiences in what – Prison or the Conservative Party?”
Contestant: “The Conservative Party.” (The Weakest Link, BBC2) * Bamber Gascoigne: “What was Gandhi’s first name?” Contestant: “Goosey” * Radio Presenter: “What happened in Dallas, Texas on 22nd November 1963?” Contestant: “I don’t know. I wasn’t watching television then.” (GWR FM, Bristol)
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