Knights Without Parachutes — red baron

Manfred and Lothar Wounded Lothar was wounded back in May one hundred years ago, but was still recovering when one hundred years ago last week, on the 6th of July, the Red Baron too was seriously wounded. The Red Baron had been fighting alongside his brother Lothar, who was doing quite well in aerial victories, and had tricks such as a fake fall out of the sky: "Then suddenly his airplane looped and the red machine plunged straight down, spinning all the while. Not an expected movement, but a regular fall. This is not the nicest of all feelings for the watching...

A Good Day for the Whole Family On 29 April of 100 years ago, Manfred von Richthofen had a very good day when his father came to visit. At the time, Manfred's brother Lothar was flying with him (Lothar was an accomplished ace in his own right, but of course is mainly known for being the Red Baron's brother.) Most fathers would be a bit concerned to have two sons flying around in these crazy contraptions, with other aviators shooting at them, no less. But the Red Baron greeted his father with "Hello Papa, I have just shot down an Englishman." and said his...

Did US Entry Help the Air War? Did the Air War Help US Entry? On April 6, 1917, the US entered the war. What effect did the air war have on US entry, and what effect did US entry have on the air war? We talked to Andy Parks about these questions, who pointed to the experience of his own extended family. Many whose views had started out isolationist were pushed toward patriotism and the war effort as German submarine warfare and the Zimmerman telegram made Germany feel like a real threat, even from across the Atlantic. Andy's grandfather Charles Parks...

Wildlife on the Flightline Before the recent open house at the VAFM, which is currently housed in a hangar at the Platte Valley Airpark, the morning chorus of birdsong along the taxiways was quite loud. Even in the days of jet aircraft, a flightline is not a bad place to get acquainted with the kinds of wildlife that live in meadows and grasslands. So much the more in the days before tarmac and tail wheels, when the airfield was an actual field that served as the interface between ground travel and air travel, and mud might be a factor in...

In the air, over there, one hundred years ago, the Red Baron was shot down in the middle of March 1917. But no, it wasn't the victory credited to Roy Brown. Or Australian ground fire. Or even Snoopy. An aerial victory did not have to mean the aviator was killed; victory just meant a forced landing and an aircraft denied to enemy use. Many pilots were happy to have a victimless victory, where the enemy pilot survived. And, according to Richthofen, what happened that day shouldn't really count as being shot down anyway, because he himself used the term to mean...