The Downfall of the Baron
Things continued to go well for Richthofen, and he continued to rack up kills, however in July of 2017 things took a serious turn, while he was attacking several pusher planes a lucky bullet struck him in the head.
"Suddenly there was a blow to my head! I was hit! For a moment I was completely paralyzed...My hands dropped to the side, my legs dangled inside the fuselage. The worst part was that the blow on the head had affected my optic nerve and I was completely blinded. The machine dived down." – Manfred von Richthofen.
He lost control of his plane, and it spiraled towards the ground, but he regained part of his vision at 2,600 feet and he managed to land his plane, but he had a bullet hole in his head, and he was kept from the front for 2 months until August but would suffering from frequent and crippling head aches for the rest of his life.
As the war progressed into 1918, and Germany suffered a severe reversal in the war that pointed to a defeat, Richthofen continued to fly and rack up kills as he neared his 80’th victory. On a personal side he continued to suffer from headaches, his squadron mates noticed that he had grown sullen and depressed, and he flew more recklessly. His superiors in wanting to protect their national hero and worried about his state of mind encouraged him to retire but the Baron refused.
On April 21, 1918, the day after he had shot down his 80th enemy aircraft, he climbed into his bright red triplane and took to the sky. At 10:30 AM there had been a report of several British Aircraft near the front, and Richthofen was taking a group up to drive them off.
The Germans spotted the British Aircraft, and a swirling dog fight ensued. Richthofen saw a single British Aircraft bolt out of the melee which was flown by Canadian 2nd Lt Wilfred “Wop” May who was in his first combat flight. May’s commanding officer was Canadian Captain Arthur Roy Brown, he had ordered his rookie pilot to watch but not fight, but May ignored his orders and had rejoined the fight until his guns jammed. May bolted from the fight and headed for home.
To Richthofen this should have been an easy kill and followed May, Brown noticed the bright red triplane chasing the rookie pilot and decided to break from the main fight to help the rookie.
By this time May noticed that the Baron had taken up the 6 position or death cone and he panicked. He flew low over the tree’s and then over the Moriancourt Ridge. Richthofen anticipated this and swung around to cut May off.
Brown caught up and started firing as they passed over the Ridge, several Australian ground troops fired up at the German plane, which spiraled into the ground.
The Australians reached the plane first, and realized who the pilot was, they ravaged the plane, but the Red Baron was dead, he was 25 years old, His solo piloting career had spanned over a short 2 years, and he had official shot down 80 aircraft and had 2 unrecognized kills to his name.
The number 3 Australian Flying Corps was the closest to the village of Entente where the Baron was shot down. Its commanding officer Major David Blake took custody of the body and knowing that Richthofen was a respected enemy organized a full military funeral. He was buried in the cemetery in the village of Bertangles the next day. Six members of the number 3 acted as pall bearers and a honor guard provided a traditional gun salute. Nearby air squadrons presented memorial gifts.
“To our gallant and worth foe” – Funeral wreath provided by British fliers.
Eventually Richthofen’s body was repatriated and reburied multiple times, eventually resting at the Richthofen family plot in Wiesbaden in 1975. He was accorded a state funeral in 1922, and then had a second state funeral held by the Nazi’s where they erected a massive tombstone with his last name. He would have hated the Nazi’s.
Who killed the Red Baron?
As a young Canadian, we learned World War 1 history and Canada’s roles in it, and one of the standout stories was about the Canadian Arthur Roy Brown who flew for the RAF who shot down the greatest fighter pilot of all times.
The first point that I would like to bring up is that Richthofen had recently returned to the air after being hit in the head with a bullet while still suffering from crippling and frequent headaches, he had also been described by his squadron mates as sullen, depressed and withdrawn, its likely that he had suffered from a serious enough concussion that lead to an altered mental state. This could have led to the change in his flying style where he was described as reckless. It could also be a indication of PTSD and that Richthofen living in incredible pain and being pushed to retire simply had a death wish.
Richthofen lived by his mentors Boelcke’s dicta, the most crucial one was not to take unnecessary risks, on the day of his death even though he had cautioned his pilots not to fly too close to the ground due to ground fire, he ignored his own advice drawing ground fire. He also showed target fixation when pursuing May, he failed to do the most basic thing, especially in WW1 air combat and that was to continually check his six. Instead, he allowed Brown to slide right into his kill slot.
It also theorized that due to the wind speed that day, Richthofen lost track of where he was and pursued May into enemy territory where ground fire would be especially murderous.
The other question is the who. Who fired the fatal shot? There were no gun cameras in WW1, There wasn’t really a witness to the kill shot, May was in front and Brown was in the 6 spot, the ground troops wouldn’t have had the perspective to see which bullet made the kill. What we do know is that the bullet that finished off the Red Baron entered his body under his right arm pit and exited next to his left nipple. It’s speculated that Brown was positioned behind, above and to the left of Richthofen, which would have made the fatal bullet an impossible shot. Its also calculated that Richthofen continued to pursue May for two minutes after Brown fired, while the bullet wound to Richthofen would have killed him instantly.
From a ground perspective there are three possibilities with the most intriguing being shots fired by Cedric Popkin’s a machine gunner from Australia who had the opportunity to at the Baron twice, with his first opportunity coming as the Baron flew straight at him and the second opportunity as the Baron was traveling to the left of Popkins position.
Its likely that ground fire killed the Red Baron, and the likely hood was that a fluke shot killed the greatest pilot of all time. However, I’m going to conclude that an anonymous gunner in a FE 2d two seat fighter from 20 Squadron RFC RAF who were on a reconnaissance mission on July 6, 1917 killed the Red Baron, the rest was academic.
Conclusions
When we look back of the life and career of Manfred von Richthofen it reads of a much older steely eyed veteran, but he accomplished everything that made him famous in a 2-year period and died when he was 25. From his first struggles in learning to fly where he crashed his plane on his first solo flight, he became the greatest fighter pilot that the world had ever known, and that was in a day and age when your plane was more likely to fall apart due to the frailty and poor workmanship then enemy bullets.
The Red Baron was not a dog fighting genius, but he and his mentor can be considered the fathers of modern fighter tactics that are used to this day. He might not have flown a flashy style but he was confounded tactical, which meant that his tactics forced other pilots to panic and make mistakes.
His name to this day still is spoken with great respect and reverence, and he never broke the rules of chivalry that existed in the WW1 air war.
From a historical point of view, his name, the name of his mentor and the Flying Circus are probably the most talked about and remembered parts of a brutal war that was not as much about heroics as survival.
Its unlikely that his victory count will ever be surpasses. At his time you weren’t really considered an ace until you reach 16 kills and 40 kills would get you the ace of aces tag. In modern jet combat a pilot that hits 5 kills is an ace and 10 kills is a double ace. But it was a different time and place.
He was a quiet man who wrote one of the best war time autobiographies that I’ve ever read, who collected trophies and painted his fighter a bright red color. He became a symbol of the dissatisfaction that eventually catches up to every man that goes to war for adventure and prestige and then gets eaten from the inside out. But to the world and Germany he was a steely eyed indestructible and feared opponent, until he fell.
“My dear Excellency! I have not gone to war to collect cheese and eggs, but for another purpose.” – Manfred von Richthofen
