Red Barons aircrafts

[Sniper Snoop]

Hi,

- Which aircraft has flown the Red Baron? And I like the serial number + period.
- Has anyone a picture of the Albatros C.III and Fokker E.III which MvR flew?
- The Albatros C. III was a two man aircraft. What function have the Red Baron and who was his fellow person?

I hope you can helps me.

[Chock]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Richthofen flew on a few types in Feldfliegerabteilung 69 on the Eastern Front, such as the Albatros BII. Mostly this was reconnaissance duty, although some bombing on occasion too, plus an occasional aerial duel, one of which resulted in Richthofen downing an aircraft, although that victory is not normally listed as part of his aerial victory tally.

His function was as an observer, invariably the observer would man a flexibly mounted machine gun too, or occasionally something less potent, such as a rifle. At that time, the observer was usually the ranking officer on board the aircraft, based on the fact that the observer had to be trained in numerous things, such as map reading, knowing what he was observing and being able to interpret and communicate it, liaison with ground forces, gunnery and and artillery ranging, etc. Richthofen, having been a cavalry officer, was of course fully trained in such matters, since that was the main function of Uhlan units until the trench warfare of world war one rendered the role somewhat obsolete for that conflict, with aircraft being used in the role instead.

The pilot in those early days of WW1 was often little more than an aerial chauffeur for the officer who was observing, but that changed when single seaters started getting more maneuverable and deadly and their pilots began gaining fame from the aerial kills they made, which is what prompted Richthofen to make the switch to flyer, as he sought fame and glory. Richthofen's pilot in those early days was invariably Georg Zeumer, but also occasionally Count Erich Graf von Holck, who was socially more on par with MVR and was also considerably more dashing than Zeumer, having been a motor racing enthusiast prior to the war.

Eventually, both Richthofen and Zeumer were posted to Brieftauben-Abteilung 2 back on the Western Front, and it was here that Zeumer, in addition to flying with Richthofen on two seaters, also got his hands on single seaters. By this time, Immelmann and Boelcke were becoming famous for their exploits on single seaters, and so Richthofen persuaded Zeumer to give him some unofficial flying training, as he too wanted to be able to fly the aircraft types which seemed the vehicle for fame and recognition, and he looked upon Zeumer being able to fly the single seaters with envy. After approximately 24 hours of instruction from Zeumer, Richthofen took a solo flight, although he crashed upon landing, without serious injury, despite writing off the aircraft he had been piloting. He made a few more flights after that and then began official flight training at Doberitz soon after (having requested to become a pilot). Doberitz is where Anthony Fokker had a flying training school, and the instruction pilots got there was very good, so the relatively inexperienced unofficial pilot became a well-trained official one.

Richthofen passed all his flying tests and the last of his pilot exams on Christmas Day, 1915, when he was 23 years old, but it was a while before he got to a fighter unit, as they were just then beginning to form. In the interim period, Richthofen flew an Albatros two seater, this time as the pilot, however, he was not satisfied with being a recon pilot and fixed a gun up on his craft to enable him to engage the enemy for himself instead of leaving it up to the gunner (he mounted it on the wing, like it was on a Nieuport fighter), this was looked on with some disapproval, but he did in fact shoot down an aircraft with that arrangement, though again, like his previous Russian front victory, it was not credited other than being mentioned in despatches. It was during this period that Richthofen met Oswald Boelcke on a train, and he quizzed Boelcke about his success and asked for tips on how to succeed as an air fighter.

He was fortunate that Oswald Boelcke had remembered meeting him shotly after that, Boelcke had been impressed by his keenness, so MVR ended up at Jasta 2 when the ace was asked to form it, and it was there that Boelcke schooled Richthofen in tactics. Thus Richthofen got excellent training in tactics from his early army career as a cavalryman, excellent experience as an observer, good experience and training as a pilot, and then excellent training as a fighter pilot from Boelcke, some of that was luck, but it is not really surprising he was successful when you consider that route into the cockpit of a fighter plane, as it enabled him to garner experience over time.

Initially Jasta 2 had a mix of early Fokker biplanes and some other types, but soon got new Albatros DI and DII aircraft, Richthofen flying the Albatros type with serial numbers 481/16/491/16. It was in the Albatros that he got his first official victory, which was an FE2, serial number 7018, this was in September 1916. At this stage, Richthofen's aircraft, like most others in Jasta 2, had few personal markings, with most aircraft at that time only occasionally sporting a pilots surname initial or some such other simple identification, although as his fame grew, his aircraft became more flamboyantly painted in red

Al

[Sniper Snoop]

I make an list what i found. Can you help me if i make mistakes? But i can not place links. Go to Google. Search to "Forum Eerste Wereldoorlog". Visit the forum and click on Wiki on the top. Left you can find an search machine. Search Manfred von Richthofen. When you have the documentation, below you find; Gebruikte toestellen. What means: used aircrafts.

Its dutch. I help you.

Toestel -> Aircraft
Serie nummer -> Serial number (Onbekend -> Unknow)
Periode -> Time he use this aircraft
Overwinningen -> Victorys
Opmerking en eenheid -> Commands and unit.

If you need help, just ask me.