A Toast to our worthy and vanquished foe!

[Scottie]

Gentlemen,

The 86th anniversary of the death this morning of Rittmeister von Richthofen.

A toast to our most worthy and vanquished foe!

[Barrett]

An Unanswerable Question: how many people would be as interested in GW aviation without him? Undoubtedly some...maybe lots.

[Alan]

True. Do a poll of friends and family, (although anyone that knows one of us has probably heard about lots of WWI pilots...) and I would almost venture to guess that names like Guynemer, Udet, Coppens, Ball, Meissner, et al, would draw a blank stare. But say "The Red Baron" and they will know if even from Charles Schulz...

Originally posted by Alan@Apr 21 2004, 12:54 PM
[b] True. Do a poll of friends and family, (although anyone that knows one of us has probably heard about lots of WWI pilots...) and I would almost venture to guess that names like Guynemer, Udet, Coppens, Ball, Meissner, et al, would draw a blank stare. But say "The Red Baron" and they will know if even from Charles Schulz...

yes, but how many would know he was a real person. Considering the number of British school children who apparently think CHURCHILL was fiction....

[Lufbery]

Originally posted by ace-o-aces@Apr 21 2004, 01:01 PM
[b]
yes, but how many would know he was a real person. Considering the number of British school children who apparently think CHURCHILL was fiction....

You mean Churchill was real?!?

Anyway, Snoopy and Red Baron pizza have done wonders for general recognition of the good baron.

The thing that always bothered me as a kid was the lack of context for the Snoopy stories. I understood that he was playing at being a pilot and that his foe was somebody called, "The Red Baron." But that was about it. The rest of the cultural references went right over my head.

That actually discouraged my interest in the whole thing; I thought the Red Baron was a fictional creation of Charles Schulz. I therefore refused to take any reference to the Red Baron seriously until I got to high school and learned better.

Regards,

[FliegerJG1]

Hmmm...my experience of Snoopy's flying ace adventures was different. I kept reading about him being chased by the Red Baron and I always wondered who the Red Baron was. Somehow I believed him to be a true historical person. The question though was "Didn't he have a real name?" I eventually asked my mother who told me that the Red Baron was an actual person and his name was von Richthofen.

The thing that really confused me about Snoopy's flying was that he flew a Sopwith Camel. Why a camel? What did an airplane have to do with a camel??? Sigh....It wasn't until I happened upon a copy of "The Red Baron" translated by P. Kilduff that I felt drawn to seek more answers. I think that if I had found some good early aviaton books as a child that I would have begun my WW1 aviation studies much much earlier.

FliegerJG1

[pmirl]

Here Here!

Paul

[Boom]

Cannot remember not knowing about Richthofen. The benefit I accrued was to find out what all the associated terms meant. Rittmeister, Freiherr, who can use "von". What do you mean the Germans had no aces?! Oh, kanone. Yep, the red Baron was a great starting point.

cheers, Boom

I remember watching 'Attack of the Hawkmen' about 5 years ago...and I saw a red tripe and some guy who shot other planes down with it, and that's when I started to seek more answers. I came across a most rediculous story abour Richthofen being seen with the pope in 1980. I must have looked at hundreds of library books. 'The Red Baron' by Peter Kilduff is still my favorite book. There is so much information. And that book tells the story, but it also leaves you to draw your own conclusions about what really happened at the end of his life. I guess we'll never know. Anyway, that's what sparked my interest in WW1 and aviation. And of course then cam Red Baron 3D and the flying books and such. Just the other day I looked at a book by Arch Whitefield I believe his name was. I must confess, I do not like his writing much. He seems to be another Richthofen hater. Honestly, they are all the same. They think he was after personal glory and such...anyway, Richthofen got me interested in this stuff. It is by far my favorite subject to talk about and study about. Even over hockey. WW1 is all-consuming to talk about. I hope people never forget about it.

[Richard_Schrader]

A toast to a brother, not a foe!

Richard