Richterhofen was born on 2 May 1892 in Silesia, southern Germany, to a family of old Prussian nobles. Richterhofen has loved sports since childhood, hunting, horseback riding and sports. At the age of 11 he began formal military training and in 1911 joined Tsar Alexander III's Spear Cavalry Regiment, 1st Battalion of West Prussia.
When World War I broke out, Richterhofen fought on both the Eastern and Western fronts as a cavalry officer, but with the formation of trench warfare centered on machine guns, trenches and barbed wire, the maneuverable cavalry lost its role. Richterhofen's unit was soon disbanded and he was assigned to the Logistics Supply Unit. In May 1915, dissatisfied with the inability to fight on the front lines, Richterhofen applied for transfer to the Imperial Army Air Corps.
Richterhofen, who had just gone into the blue sky, did not fly fighters immediately, but only became a reconnaissance aircraft observer of the 69th Squadron flying over the battlefield every day. On 15 September 1915, during an encounter, Richterhofen, who was an observer, shot down a British aircraft, but it was not confirmed. Later, over France, also as an observer, Richterhofen again shot down a French plane with machine guns, but this result remains unconfirmed.
In October 1915, Richterhofen joined the Fighter Corps. After training, he joined the fighter squadron in March 1916, piloting the two-seat albatros bii reconnaissance aircraft, and the "Red Baron" began his legendary conquest! In April, a Newport plane was shot down by Richterhofen in The Verdge, France, but it remained unconfirmed. After that, Richterhofen accompanied the troops to the Eastern Front and carried out a series of safer bombing missions.
In August 1916, Richterhofen finally met his Bó Lè, german ace pilot Oswald V. Burk (oswaldboelcke). After a brief conversation, Burke, who saw Richthofen's talent, invited him to join the newly formed 2nd Fighter Squadron, and soon Richthofen went with the new force to the front line of the Somme in France. When the fierce Battle of the Somme was in full swing, the well-trained British Royal Flying Team launched a fierce offensive in the air, and they once had air supremacy on the battlefield. With the arrival of the 2nd Fighter Squadron, the situation in the sky immediately changed.
On September 17, Richterhofen shot down a British F.E.2 fighter jet over Cambara, France, writing in his memoirs: "In the blink of an eye, I began to shoot with a machine gun behind him. I was so close to the enemy that I was scared, afraid that I would crash into it. Suddenly, the propeller of the British plane stopped spinning. I shot his engine to pieces; the enemy was forced to land, but he could not land safely. Strangely enough, the British plane was wobbling, presumably something had happened to the pilot. The observer was no longer visible, and I had observed that he had apparently been killed by me. "
The F.E.2 fighter jet shot down by Richterhofen made a forced landing in German-occupied territory, and the seriously wounded pilot was taken to a nearby field hospital for rescue, which became Richterhofen's first confirmed victory, but it was only the beginning of its long results. Richterhofen, who scored his first record, wrote a letter to a jeweler friend in Berlin, customizing a silver cup engraved with the model and time and place of the shot-down aircraft. Richterhofen continued this habit until germany was short of silver supplies and stopped customizing silver cups marking the results.
Over the Somme, Richterhofen and his squadron in the 2nd Fighter Squadron were extremely successful, but in November Squadron Leader Burke was killed in a collision with a friendly aircraft. By this time, Richterhofen had achieved a record of shooting down 10 enemy aircraft.
On November 23, 1916, RichterHofen, flying the Albatross D.II fighter jet, met Lanoe George Hawker, who flew the Havilland D.H.2 fighter.
Hawke was Britain's finest pilot, becoming the first pilot to receive the Victoria Cross by shooting down seven enemy aircraft. Hawke's British 24th Squadron was the most prestigious elite unit in the Allied Air Force, and he himself was known as the "British Booker".
The air battle between Richthofen and Hawke was a contest between masters, with the two flying from 3,000 meters to 1,000 meters, and everyone wanted to take the lead. Finally, after more than 30 minutes of aerial fighting, a bullet fired by Richterhofen hit the back of Hawke's head, and the HarveyLand D.H.2 fighter he piloted was like a kite with a broken line and planted on the ground.
The air battle was considered the most classic aerial duel of world war I, and Richterhofen embarked on the road to super aces.