Manfred, baron von Richthofen

Manfred, baron von Richthofen (born May 2, 1892, Breslau, Germany [now Wrocław, Poland]—died April 21, 1918, Vaux-sur-Somme, France) was Germany’s top aviator and leading ace in World War I.

(Read Orville Wright’s 1929 biography of his brother, Wilbur.)

Members of a prosperous family, Richthofen and his younger brother Lothar followed their father into military careers. In 1912 Richthofen became a lieutenant in the 1st Uhlan Cavalry Regiment of the Prussian Army. As a member of this regiment, he fought in Russia after the outbreak of World War I and then participated in the invasion of Belgium and France. When trench warfare settled in and the cavalry became sidelined, Richthofen joined the infantry. In 1915 he transferred to the Imperial Air Service and in September 1916 entered combat as a fighter pilot.

He became commander of Fighter Wing I (Jagdgeschwader 1), which, because of its frequent moves by rail and its fancifully decorated planes, came to be known as “Richthofen’s Flying Circus,” and he personally was credited with shooting down 80 enemy aircraft. He was killed in his red Fokker triplane when caught in a barrage of Australian enemy ground fire during a battle near Amiens. According to another account, he was shot down by Captain Arthur Roy Brown, a Canadian in the Royal Air Force. His eventual successor as commander of the fighter group was Hermann Göring.