Retaining his cavalry captain’s rank during his service with the Luftstreitkrifte, German aristocrat pilot Manfried von Richthofen was 32 when war broke out. He transferred from the cavalry in May 1915 but for some months served without distinction with Feldfliegerabteilung 69. In September the following year he was posted to Jasta 2 and received brief but valuable instruction from Oswald Boelcke. Thereafter his score of victories rose steadily and in January 1917 he received the Ordre Pour le Mérite.
A calculating fighter, von Richthofen nevertheless pursued the instincts of an aristocratic huntsman, maintaining a collection of silver cups each engraved with the name and particulars of a combat victim. As commander of Jasta 11 it was von Richthofen who shot down Major Lance Hawker VC, and later personally led the ‘Richthofen Flying Circus’, an assembly of experienced young pilots that gained a deadly reputation over the Western Front. It was while flying a Fokker Dr 1 on 21 April 1918 that he met his death, apparently shot down by Captain A. Roy Brown of No. 209 Squadron, RAF, although controversy has raged ever since as to the exact cause of his death.
The vast majority of Manfred von Richthofens’ 80 victories were scored in Albatros D.III and D.Vs. The final 20 were while flying the Fokker Dr.1. Included in that number are eight Camels.
His score of 80 confirmed victories placed von Richthofen ahead of all other fighter pilots of WW I.
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