Author: Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 127
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Book Description
This book is written by the Red Baron, the famous German flying ace of the Great War who was credited with 80 combat victories in flying battles. It is an autobiography, talking about his early life and love of horses and dogs, and his family. A fascinating insight into a famous figure.
Author: Norman L. R. Franks
Publisher: St. Catharines, Ont. : Vanwell Publishing
ISBN: 9781550680461
Category : Fighter pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 143
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Book Description
Author: William E. Burrows
Publisher: Plunkett Lake Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 267
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Book Description
Originally a cavalryman, Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (1892-1918), nicknamed the Red Baron, transferred to the German Air Service in 1915. One of the first members of fighter squadron Jasta 2 in 1916, Richthofen quickly distinguished himself as a fighter pilot, becoming leader of Jasta 11 in 1917 and later leading the larger fighter wing known as “The Flying Circus” or “Richthofen’s Circus” whose bright-colored aircraft moved from one area of Allied air activity to another, settling on improvised airfields. Richthofen was shot down and killed in April 1918 over France at age 25. Credited with 80 air combat victories, he was a national hero in Germany and was also respected by his enemies. “The context [of World War I air warfare] can be obtained from William E. Burrows’s ‘true history,’ a very good book. He has not only read the available material, but talked to a great many people who knew Richthofen. The result is as good a look at the withdrawn Prussian personality as we are likely to get.” — Pierce Fredericks, New York Times Book Review “This is a fine biography of the German flying ace of World War I fame, who, at the time of his death at age 25, was already a legend. The author has researched well his subject giving the reader a look at the person, not just the mystique, and reconstructs a few of the Red Baron’s famous dog-fights.” — US Naval Institute Proceedings “This ‘true history of the Red Baron’ gets behind the mystique clinging to the World War I aviation ace to the question of his use, or mis-use, by German propaganda.” — Wall Street Journal “In this intriguing biography, Burrows zooms in on the man behind the myth. He analyzes Richthofen’s persisting influence on his compatriots today.” — Book World “The Burrows book does serve to freshen the memory of the Red Baron and his place in history.” — The Louisville Times “William E. Burrows has done, in Richthofen, a sensitive job of examining how a killer is turned into a myth.” — Christian Science Monitor
Author: Leon Bennett
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781907677137
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Three Wings for the Red Baron explores the career of Manfred von Richthofen, top fighter pilot in the Imperial German Air Service during the First World War, and tells the story of his famous three-winged airplane, the Fokker Triplane. A descendant of prosperous landowners, Baron von Richthofen was no revolutionary. And yet, while seeking to fit in with his peers, he was often driven to move into new directions dictated by personal logic. Trained for the cavalry, he switched to the Air Service when machine guns doomed the fate of the horse soldier: if he were to die, it must not be a pointless death. As a flier, having to overcome a lack of talent for aerobatic maneuvering, he chose the duel as a role model: pilot versus pilot. He learned that much could be achieved with a powerful single-seater machine against a low powered and poorly maneuvering enemy two-seater. This became Richthofen's preferred form of combat, leading to an extraordinary series of victories. With the advent of fully aerobatic combat, Richthofen was forced to rethink his approach. The chance sighting of an agile British Sopwith Triplane demanded a fresh response. He enlisted the services of Anthony Fokker to design a competing German Triplane. This machine, the Red Baron's Three Wings, led to his final victories, and to his death. His death was unclear. Within the time span of minutes he was fired on from three different sources: fighter pilot Roy Brown, several ground based anti-aircraft machine gunners, and numerous infantry riflemen. One succeeded, but who? Fresh examination of the available evidence suggests that the unknown rifleman possibility deserves more attention. While not conclusive, much aerodynamic and probability reasoning favors the rifleman version. Strangely, a thorough examination of the triplane's characteristics by the British Sopwith, the French SPAD, the USA Curtiss and MIT revealed little that was praiseworthy. If anything, the six wingtips were a sure sign of high drag and a corresponding low speed. The resulting British rejection of the concept seems understandable. Yet in Fokker's hands, three wings, aided by fat airfoils and low weight design, supplied superb maneuverability. His design approach is fully detailed in the book. The special tactics employed by the Red Baron were crucial to the success of his Three Wings, in particular those downplaying speed and stressing agility. Numerous sketches included in the book serve to make the Red Baron's combat tactics clear. Three Wings for the Red Baron represents an important contribution to the study of the Red Baron and WWI aerial combat tactics.
Author: Eddie Rickenbacker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fighter pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 392
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Book Description
Author: Wayne Vansant
Publisher: Zenith Press
ISBN: 076034602X
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 107
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Book Description
In The Red Baron, historian and graphic artist Wayne Vansant profiles and illustrates the story of Manfred von Richthofen, whose unparalleled prowess as a German WWI pilot forever made him a part of nonfiction military lore.
Author: Leon Bennett
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585445073
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 228
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Book Description
The daring air aces of World War I faced more than the enemy when they took to the sky - they faced the odds. Their chances of being hit were high; the odds of their hitting the enemy were low. One pilot, French Captain Albert Moris, reported 400 hits to his aircraft in his 253 hours of flying, more than a hit per hour. Even the most maneuverable of the British fighters, the Sopwith Camel, lost as many machines as its pilots shot down. Pilots flying Camels rang up 1,294 victories, but 1,500 machines were lost to accidents and enemy fire, and many Camel pilots died within weeks of entering combat. Was it luck or skill that sustained the Red Baron, the German ace who flew, fought, and thrived until he was finally shot down in April 1918? Gunning for the Red Baron gives the lowdown on why it was so hard to score a hit, what qualities helped the aces succeed, and the weapons and planes that were celebrated in the air war to end wars. Most basically, this richly illustrated book explains why aim was so notoriously bad. London's Public Records Office, and careful study of Great War technology, author Leon Bennett analyzes combat sequences, the arts of aerial gunnery, and the weapons themselves. His detailed insight into the mechanics of air warfare allows him to reach some startling conclusions about one of the enduring controversies of World War I: what finally brought the Red Baron down.
Author: Floyd Gibbons
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Author: Norman Franks
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781898697961
Category : Air pilots, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This is not a study of von Richthofen's life or death, but of the men he shot down. It is an up-to-date reference book covering the 123 men von Richthofen is reputed to have brought down while amassing his score of 80 victories over Allied aircraft between September 1916 and April 1918. The backgrounds of the men he fought are documented, and the later lives of those who survived the encounter with the Red Baron are also fully reported.
Author: Charles River Editors
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781502931931
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 46
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Book Description
*Includes pictures *Includes the Red Baron's own quotes about his life and career *Discusses the Red Baron's death and the controversy over who shot him *Includes a bibliography for further reading "Now I am within thirty yards of him. He must fall. The gun pours out its stream of lead. Then it jams. Then it reopens fire. That jam almost saved his life." - The Red Baron Few participants in World War I are more famous than Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron. A German known for victories in a war that his country lost, a cavalry officer made famous as mounted combat disappeared, and an aristocratic hero in a century dominated by democracy; Richthofen's celebrity stands in stark contrast to the era. Furthermore, World War I is not remembered as a period in which the advance of technology empowered or emboldened individual human beings, and it certainly did not support the old romantic image of the lone, skilled warrior. The terrible grinding power of Europe's first great industrial war saw advances in gunnery and factory production that chewed up millions of young men and spit them out in fragments across the anonymous mud of no man's land. A soldier was more likely to be killed by an artillery shell flung from half a mile away than up close in combat, where his own skills might save his life, so there was little heroism and no glory to be found in the forms of violence provided by the modern war machine. However, for the handful of men fighting in the air, it was a different matter, because World War I brought about the emergence of full-blooded aerial combat for the first time. In fact, airplanes were so foreign to past examples of warfare that few military officers were sure of how to utilize them at the start of the war. As a result, amazing new machines capable of carrying men at great speed and height were used first for reconnaissance, and it was only later that they actually became fighter planes, with each side fighting for dominance of the air and the advantage this provided. This was the era of the dogfight, in which aerial combat was effectively invented, with engineers and pilots working quickly to adapt machines and tactics to a whole new sort of warfare. In the skies above Europe, a man could once more play the role of the lone warrior, surviving or dying by skill and the power of personality. Into this cloud-strewn battlefield came a young man from a young country, ready to prove not only his potential but that of the new form of combat at which he would excel. Indeed, there was no greater ace during the war than the Red Baron, who was credited with shooting down 80 Allied planes. However, the Red Baron's most remarkable accomplishment was one he never wanted. On April 21, 1918, while flying over the Somme, the Red Baron spotted an Allied plane and pursued it, and while in pursuit, the Red Baron was shot by a single bullet in the chest, mortally wounding him. Debate has raged ever since over whether an Allied pilot or infantry unit shot him, but either way, despite being mortally wounded and already near death, the Red Baron managed to land his plane in a field. He died almost immediately after the landing, and his plane quickly became a treasure trove for souvenirs among soldiers from the Allied Powers on the ground. By the time he died at the age of 25, Richthofen was a living legend, celebrated by his fellow countrymen and feared by his enemies. Ironically, he had managed to become a celebrity soldier in an era of anonymous death. The Red Baron chronicles the life and legacy of history's most famous fighter pilot. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about Manfred von Richthofen like never before, in no time at all.
