Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, veteran German fighter pilot
with at least 80 victories to his credit, was shot down and killed on
this day in 1918, thereby becoming one of the hundreds of thousands of
German servicemen to die in the 1918 German Spring Offensive.
Von Richthofen is arguably the most famous German military figure of the
Great War for a variety of reasons all of which are tied to the
romantic myths attached to the war in the air, which in reality was an
exceedingly grim affair. Suffering in later years from the effects of a
head injury sustained in an earlier crash, Von Richthofen was arguably
no longer really himself. In recent years the impact of head injuries
on mental outlook has become a well developed field of medicine but it
was not at the time.
To some extent it's surprising that Von Richthofen's memory has
sustained itself in such a romantic fashion as he was truly a
representative of a dying age, most particularly in his own country. A
representative of the aristocratic class, Germany was already beginning
to be torn apart by the forces of modernity that burst forth post war
and ultimately deliver the country to the Nazis and the world to a
second world war. But then many of the German officer class were
likewise representatives of that world, even into World War Two.
There's always been some dispute on who shot down the Red Baron. It
came in aerial combat, but that's about the only thing that can be
definitely said.
Von Richthofen was pursuing the plane of Canadian fledgling pilot
Wilfred "Wop" May, who himself had just fired upon the plane of Wolfram
von Richthofen, a cousin of of Manfred's. Brown dropped in on Von
Richthofen to aid May. But Von Richthofen also took ground fire at the
time and later forensic work, and some speculation, has lead many to
believe that it was likely ground fire that killed Von Richthofen, who
suffered a single fatal wound. In that case, the shot could have come
from either Australian or British troops.
British funeral for Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen. Scenes
like this were not uncommon during the Great War for airmen, oddly.
Both the British and the Germans did this. In this ceremony we see
officers of the RAF salute their former enemy and bear his coffin while
an honor guard of Australian infantrymen stand in armed salute. A
person has to wonder what the Australian soldiers, notoriously salty in
their views, thought of this. The clergyman is undoubtedly an Anglican
Priest of the Church of England, which itself is a bit of an oddity as
Von Richthofen was undoubtedly a Lutheran.
His death at a young age has preserved the romantic image he bore during
the war in a James Dean like way. Wolfram, whom he acted to save, went
on serve in the Luftwaffe again and rose to the rank of Field Marshall
in Hitler's air force, dying of a brain tumor shortly after World War
Two. He was 49 years of old, but appeared much older at the time. Roy
Brown returned to Canada and tried, but failed, to enter politics. He
became a farmer but died in 1944 at age 50. Wop May died at age 56
while on vacation in the United States. He had a varied post war
career, but much of it was as a flight instructor. Cedric Popkin, an
Australian machinegunner whom some believe fired the fatal bullet went
on home to a career as a carpenter, living the longest to age 77.
