The Day the Red Baron Died

Today is the 93rd anniversary of his death on April 21, 1918.

The science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein wrote in The Notebooks of Lazarus Long that "The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of 'loyalty' and 'duty.' Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute -- get out of there fast! You may possibly save yourself, but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed."

I wonder if I recognized and identified with the concepts of loyalty and duty even as a five year old boy when I first read about the World War One flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron. He was a great hunter, had keen eyesight, and what could be called situational awareness. While most men in aerial combat were lucky if they could even just look out for themselves, he was able to keep track of what all the men in his squadron were doing at all times.

After they landed, the others were amazed that von Richthofen could tell them in detail what they had done right and what they had done wrong in the previous combat. I always wanted to be like von Richthofen, somebody respected for outstanding abilities at what they do but even more, somebody that others could count on. I have always tried to be that type of friend.

As for duty, von Richthofen was seriously hurt in aerial combat on July 6, 1917 but survived to fight again. He never should have seen combat after that serious head wound, and he was urged to take a job as an instructor behind the lines. He didn't want any special treatment just because he was famous. He said that if any ordinary soldier had suffered the same wound, that soldier would have been sent back to the front to fight as soon as possible. Also, he didn't want to abandon his comrades at the front. He had a sense of obligation to his comrades and to his country. For some reason that really struck a chord with me, and he has always been one of my role models.

Yes I know there were bad things about him. He enjoyed hunting, even if the prey was other people. But he was loyal and courageous, and he exemplified almost as much as it is possible for any human to do, the twin concepts of loyalty and duty so highly praised by that popular science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein.

I wrote an informative speech about the Fokker Triplane (made famous by the Red Baron) that is one of the better concise sources of information about this aircraft on the internet. I even wrote a song about the character and career of the Red Baron and posted a music video on YouTube. The song lyrics are historically accurate, focusing mainly on the day he was wounded July 6, 1917. The images used in the video are also historically accurate. Several noted aviation artists gave me permission to use images of some of their artwork in this video.

R.I.P. Werner Voss

I think of Werner Voss every September 23. Werner Voss was one of the greatest of the World War One German flying aces. He was a better pilot than the Red Baron even though the Red Baron was a better leader and teacher. On this date in 1917, Werner Voss was killed in one of the epic dogfights of that war when he fought alone against a flight of some of the best pilots in the British Royal Flying Corps.

Voss was in one of the prototype Fokker triplanes with a whimsical face painted on the engine cowling. He could have gotten away more than once in the prolonged combat, but always dove back in to engage them. All the British machines were damaged, but eventually something happened where Voss's triplane flew straight long enough for Lieutenant Rhys-Davids to shoot it down.

According to the Wikipedia article on Werner Voss, after a head on pass against the British ace McCudden, the side of Voss's triplane was hit by a machine-gun burst by Hoidge and Voss took a bullet in his lungs before Rhys-Davids came in from behind and below him. I just read this a few minutes ago and it is the first time I heard these details of the end. I will do some checking to see what sources they found that I hadn't seen before.

A famous author contacted me

Dale M. Titler, author of The Day the Red Baron Died and other books about aviation, recently sent me an email complimenting me about one of the pages I have up about the Red Baron's Fokker Triplane. We have exchanged a couple emails each since then.

The Day the Red Baron Died is a very good read, one of my all-time favorite books. It was published in 1970. Mr. Titler had personally interviewed many of the surviving participants in doing research for that book. His conclusion is that it was the gunners Buie and Evans who shot down the Red Baron.

However the 2003 PBS NOVA documentary Who Killed the Red Baron? presents a case that it was Popkin instead, based on the firing angle and the distance. A long range shot would account for the supposed fact that the fatal bullet was recovered from the clothing of the Baron's body. Buie and Evans fired from point-blank range and the bullet would have probably kept on going if it was one of their bullets that got him.

I mentioned this to Mr. Titler in my first reply to him, after praising him for his work and telling him he is one of my all-time favorite authors. Mr. Titler assures me that he is still personally convinced it was Buie and Evans who shot the Red Baron. Buie was one of the people Mr. Titler corresponded with about this incident. One thing we do agree on is that it was NOT the Canadian pilot Roy Brown. I am still very disappointed that the 2008 German film about the Red Baron made Brown such a major part of the story and gave him credit for the kill.

Before any Canadians start yelling at me, let me make clear that if it hadn't been for the Canadian pilots involved, the Australian troops on the ground wouldn't have had a shot at the Baron. Also, even though Brown's high-speed dive and attack probably didn't achieve the results he was credited with, it may have distracted Richthofen enough to save Lieutenant May's life (the other Canadian pilot who was being chased by von Richthofen). These were brave young men in an awful situation doing the best they could under the circumstances.

Rest in peace, Pandora Kitty

I just learned today that Pandora Kitty was put down. She hadn't been doing well for some time. For those who don't know who Pandora Kitty is, I offer "The Sneaking Straw Stealer" photo story from 1998. I guess that made her about ten and a half years old. Goodbye kitty. I'm glad I knew you.

Today I started making a video for my Red Baron song (see the previous blog entry of November 16, 2008).

New recording of RED BARON song

I wrote this song back in 1995, but only got a decent recording of it the day before yesterday (on November 14, 2008).

The lyrics describe an actual incident in the life of the Red Baron, when he was seriously wounded by a bullet that grazed his skull when he was attacking a group of British aircraft on July 6, 1917.

Red Baron is the page for the lyrics. There is a link to a free mp3 of the latest recording of this song immediately after the song title near the top of that page.

I used Audacity sound recording software to produce three tracks (guitar rhythm, guitar lead, and vocals). I hope you enjoy it! I am quite pleased with the results from this free recording software, although there is much room for improvement in the hardware I am using to record with. Someday I hope to add some sound effects to the song (aircraft engines, machine gun sounds, etc.), and produce a video for YouTube.

Roy Brown probably did NOT kill the Red Baron

Well I had high hopes when I heard of a recent German movie about the Red Baron. So far as I know it has not yet been released in English language (perhaps subtitles are available for the German version). I really hoped this movie would not have too many historical inaccuracies, but according to Wikipedia this movie indicates that the Canadian pilot Roy Brown is the one who finally kills the Red Baron.

I mean no disrespect to Roy Brown or to Canada, but there is a LOT of evidence that Roy Brown did not fire the shot that killed Manfred von Richthofen. For one thing, the path of the bullet through his body shows that the bullet came from the ground. For another, the wound that killed Richthofen was such that he may have lived for about twenty seconds after being shot. Since the Red Baron was in control of his airplane for a minute or two AFTER Brown fired and banked away, it isn't likely that Brown did it.

Added Dec. 2, 2008: I recently learned that some say depending on the exact path of the fatal bullet, von Richthofen could have lived anywhere from twenty seconds to two minutes after being shot, possibly without an awareness of pain for a short while. This does increase the likelihood somewhat of Brown being the one who killed the Red Baron, but in my opinion this still doesn't make it the most likely scenario.

Now it might not have happened the way it did if Brown hadn't at least attacked the Red Baron. Perhaps this attack, even though unsuccessful, distracted von Richthofen enough to spoil his aim or otherwise keep him from downing Lieutenant May before he himself was shot by the Australian troops on the ground. In my opinion it was a team effort. Richthofen was chasing one Canadian pilot (May), was shot at by another Canadian pilot (Brown), but it was the Australian troops on the ground who brought him down. The point is that von Richthofen wouldn't have been close enough for the Australian troops to shoot him if it hadn't been for the Canadian pilots involved.

I am HIGHLY disappointed in the German director of the film to allow such inaccuracy when the scholarly consensus of World War One aviation historians has been for some time that Richthofen was killed by a bullet fired from the ground by an Australian soldier (probably Popkin, possibly Evans or another whose identity is unknown).

The movie trailer I've seen looks wonderful. I immediately recognized Fokker Triplane 586/17 shown in the trailer, the "optical illusion" triplane flown by Kirschstein of Jasta 6 and later by Ernst Udet of Jasta 4. The markings looked correct, and seeing a known historical aircraft depicted in the proper markings gave me hope that this movie paid attention to historical fact. I can't believe how STUPID the film's makers were to show Roy Brown as the one who killed von Richthofen! If I ever get really rich, perhaps I can finance a movie about von Richthofen that will do justice to his legendary character and be as historically accurate as possible.