ARISTOTELES LEVALLOIS´RED BARON

Legendary Pilot of World War I: The Red Baron, from Historyarte

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918), also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot  with the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte ) during World War I . He is considered the top ace  of that war, being officially credited with 80 air combat  victories.Originally a cavalryman, Richthofen transferred to the Air Service in 1915, becoming one of the first members of Jasta 2  in 1916. He quickly distinguished himself as a fighter pilot, and during 1917 became leader of Jasta 11  and then the larger unit Jagdgeschwader 1  (better known as the "Flying Circus"). By 1918, he was regarded as a national hero in Germany, and was very well known by the other side.

Richthofen was shot down and killed near Amiens  on 21 April 1918. There has been considerable discussion and debate regarding aspects of his career, especially the circumstances of his death. He remains perhaps the most widely known fighter pilot of all time, and has been the subject of many books, films and other media . Richthofen was fatally wounded just after 11:00 am on 21 April 1918, while flying over Morlancourt  Ridge, near the Somme River .

At the time, the Baron had been pursuing (at very low altitude) a Sopwith Camel  piloted by a novice Canadian pilot, Lieutenant Wilfrid "Wop" May  of No. 209 Squadron , Royal Air Force.[43]  In turn, the Baron was spotted and briefly attacked by a Camel piloted by a school friend (and flight commander) of May's, Canadian Captain Arthur "Roy" Brown , who had to dive steeply at very high speed to intervene, and then had to climb steeply to avoid hitting the groundRichthofen turned to avoid this attack, and then resumed his pursuit of May. It was almost certainly during this final stage in his pursuit of May that Richthofen was hit by a single .303  bullet, which caused such severe damage to his heart and lungs that it must have produced a very speedy death. In the last seconds of his life, he managed to make a hasty but controlled landing in a field on a hill near the Bray-Corbie road, just north of the village of Vaux-sur-Somme , in a sector controlled by the Australian Imperial Force  (AIF). One witness, Gunner George Ridgway, stated that when he and other Australian soldiers reached the aircraft, Richthofen was still alive but died moments later.[45]  Another eye witness, Sergeant Ted Smout  of the Australian Medical Corps , reported that Richthofen's last word was "kaputt".

His Fokker was not badly damaged by the landing, but it was soon taken apart by souvenir hunters.No. 3 Squadron , Australian Flying Corps , as the nearest Allied air unit, assumed responsibility for the Baron's remains.

In 2009, Richthofen's death certificate  was found in the archives in Ostrów Wielkopolski , Poland. Richthofen had briefly been stationed in Ostrów—which was part of Germany until the end of World War I—before going to war. The document, which is a one-page, handwritten form in a 1918 registry book of deaths, misspells Richthofen's name as "Richthoven" and simply states that he has "died 21 April 1918, from wounds sustained in combat.