iRide.2020.05.04 Red Baron

The legend of the Red Baron has endured for 102 years since the man behind the legend, aviator Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (02 May 1892 to 21 April 1918), was fatally wounded in an aerial dogfight over the Somme battlefield. Amazingly, von Richthofen lived long enough to land his equally famous Fokker Dr.I 425/17 red triplane.

The model in the headline photograph for today—a child's kite, I think—was caught in some overhead power lines. The original plane was not badly damaged in the emergency landing made by von Richthofen after he was hit by ground fire, but the plane was soon taken apart by souvenir hunters. A replica was shown at the Berlin Air Show in 2006. von Richthofen's last words reportedly included the word 'kaputt' (done for) according to the three Allied soldiers who each claimed to have been the first to have reached the dying pilot.

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