Author: Sasha
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April 21, 1918: German ace pilot Richterhofen is killed by a bullet near the Somme.
Manfred Albrecht von Richterhofen, the most famous pilot of the First World War, was the most famous Red Baron.
He was a German super ace pilot who shot down 80 enemy aircraft.
In the Air Force is still a prototype of the First World War, this record has shocked the world.
The Red Baron was the child of an old Prussian aristocratic family and was adept at sports from an early age, especially in horse riding.
At the outbreak of World War I, the Red Baron in his early 20s was a cavalry officer. The First World War soon fell into a trench confrontation, and the cavalry was unable to exert its power at all. In the face of heavy machine guns, traditional cavalry tactics have gone bankrupt.
Believing that the cavalry was obsolete, the Red Baron applied to join the German Army Air Corps, officially entering service in 1915.
After up to 1 year of training, the Red Baron has developed strong flying skills.
On September 17, 1916, he shot down the first enemy aircraft in France.
The Red Baron's flying skills are not significantly stronger than the other aces.
Many people believe that Lotta, the brother of the Red Baron, is a talented pilot who often makes incredible flying moves.
The Red Baron was a very good shooter and knew how to shoot down enemy aircraft as quickly as possible.
On November 23, 1916, the Red Baron shot down the British ace pilot Lano Hawke.
In the battle with the French, the Red Baron was quite dissatisfied with his landline Albatross D-II fighter.
The aircraft has a speed of only 180 kilometers per hour and has design flaws. If the fighter dives at a large angle, the lower wing may break.
By September 1917, he began flying the famous Fokker Dr.I triplane.
The Fokker Dr.I triplane did not increase in speed, but its maneuverability was greatly enhanced.
It has excellent circling properties, as well as excellent climbing and subduction.
The Red Baron and Fokker Dr.I triplane are a perfect match.
In just 2 months of flying the fighter, he shot down a total of 60 enemy aircraft, an average of 30 per month, 1 per day.
This is a shocking record.
In order to easily identify the enemy and the enemy, he painted his fighters red. From then on, he was known as the Red Baron.
Prior to this, the Red Baron had been hit by an enemy plane in a battle, and suffered head injuries, leaving him with headaches and vomiting.
His superiors believed that the Red Baron's health was not well suited to continue fighting.
Moreover, he was already the most famous pilot of the German army, and if he died in battle, it could lead to serious damage to the morale of the military and civilians.
His superiors found him and advised him to retire and go to the rear as a flight instructor and not to fight anymore.
The Red Baron knew that this was the kindness of his superiors, but he flatly refused.
Inheriting the tradition of the Prussian soldiers, leaving the front line was equivalent to desertion, which was the greatest insult to the aristocratic soldiers.
He replied bluntly: It is my responsibility to support the soldiers on the ground, I must fulfill it, there will be no other choice.
His comrades were not surprised by this, who thought that the Red Baron had always been the best soldier.
However, his comrades-in-arms thought he was not easy to get along with.
The Red Baron is introverted, never shows personal feelings, has a serious expression, and rarely chats with others.
A comrade-in-arms recalled many years later: he had a face that refused to be thousands of miles away.
Even so, everyone trusted him very much.
On 21 April 1918, the Red Baron was killed in battle over the Somme in France.
At the time, he was chasing a Sopwith Camel fighter piloted by Canadian pilot Wilfrid May.
As he prepared for the attack, the Red Baron found himself being followed by another fighter.
The fighter was a camel fighter piloted by Canadian pilot Roy Brown.
Based on tactical principles, the Red Baron abandons the tail bite on May and instead deals with Brown.
Just as his fighter turned its head, he was suddenly hit by a bullet.
After being seriously wounded, the Red Baron still flew the fighter plane to land in the Australian Army position, and the fighter was not damaged.
The Australian soldiers on the ground ran to the German fighter.
Sergeant Ted Smout of the Australian Medical Corps found the Red Baron collapsed in the cabin and had not yet lost his breath. The Red Baron said to him a German word for "kaputt" (German for damaged or malfunctioning) and died.
Smut found the Red Baron shot in the chest, and a bullet shot in his right lower abdomen, across the entire chest cavity and out of the left chest. Several of his internal organs were severely damaged and he died of serious injuries.
According to the wound analysis, the bullet was a .303 caliber bullet used by the British Army.
Initially, the RAF believed that the Red Baron was shot by Canadian pilot Roy Brown.
Until recent decades, this conclusion has been overturned.
After a computer-simulated air battle, Roy Brown could not have fired the bullet from the Right Lower Abdomen of the Red Baron no matter what.
It is now generally believed that he was hit by ground anti-aircraft fire.
Sergeant Sidrik Popkin, who was then part of Australia's 24th Machine Gun Company, fired continuously at the red aircraft with a Vickers machine gun.
The plane flew very low, and Popkin had hit it twice in a row, just 1 minute before and after.
The first time was when the Red Baron's landline flew right at the machine gun, and he fired the first wave of bullets.
For a long time, Popkin believed it was this wave of bullets that hit.
Later analysis showed that this wave of bullets hit the fighter, but did not hit the Red Baron.
The Red Baron was killed by the second wave of shooting.
His fighter turned and leaped rapidly 600 meters to the right over Popkin, who fired a second wave of bullets.
Because this time it was not facing the plane, Popkin was chasing the high-speed flying plane and did not think it would hit.
Unexpectedly, this wave of random shooting actually killed the Red Baron, which was a mistake.
Incredibly, the British held a solemn funeral for the Red Baron.
Six Allied captains carried the coffin and a priest prayed for him. When his coffin entered the tomb, two rows of British soldiers fired their guns into the air, paying the highest tribute to this enemy on the battlefield!
The Younger Brother of the Red Baron, Lotta von Richterhofen, was also an ace pilot, shooting down 40 aircraft.
He and his brother belonged to the 11th Fighter Squadron and died in an air crash in 1922.
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