View Single Post
Old 25 June 2009, 12:13 PM #8 (permalink)
Gregvan
Forum Ace
 
Gregvan's Avatar
Contributor
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: St. Charles, Iowa
Posts: 2,692
Hi,

3rd Paragraph down: "It requires no long years of training, as the land service does". Huh?

I'm sure it may have been a common belief that the "Tango Circus" or "Richthofen's Circus" followed Groupe de Combat 12 around, but it wasn't so! Made for good propaganda. Any time any Allied airmen were encountering skilled German fighter pilots (especially if they had bright colored airplanes, or red noses - as did many units, not just Jasta 11 and JG I) the immediate conclusion was that they were facing "Richthofen's Circus". The use of "Tangoes" to refer to the Richthofen Circus or a skilled group of German fighter pilots is unique to the French - I've seen it in Thenault's book on the Lafayette and some Stork group literature. It supposedly comes from the tangerine orange-red markings on their airplanes...

Greg
__________________
Greg VanWyngarden

Gregvan is offline