Under the Guns of the Red Baron: The Complete Record of Von Richthofen's Victories and Victims Fully Illustrated

by Norman L.R. Franks, Hal Giblin, Nigel McCrery

In the autumn of 2007, ninety years after this legendary fighter fell to earth, there will be a full length feature film released in the UK and Germany simply entitled The Red Baron, with Joseph Fiennes in the lead role. Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen was the most feared and celebrated of all German pilots in World War I, and has become one of the iconic figures of history. This book, by three respected historians, has researched in detail the lives of all of his 123 victims (over 100 of whom are depicted), and provides a blow-by-blow account of their encounter with the great man – a unique compilation of material.

Genres: Aviation, History, Military History, War

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 1995

About the author

Norman Leslie Robert Franks was an English militaria writer who specialised in aviation topics. He focused on the pilots and squadrons of World Wars I and II.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's well known that Manfred von Richthofen scored 80 victories before his own death in the spring of 1918 ("Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more" according to The Royal Guardsmen), but this book really brings home what '80 victories' means, tracing each of the Red Baron's victims through his own records and British reports. Photographs and brief biographies bring these young men (the youngest just 18) back to life.

There are tragic stories of families who lost all their sons in a short space of time, of widows left with babies to bring up alone, and of pilots who swapped their leave so another man could go home, only to get shot down. But there are also men who lived to tell the tale, either making it back to their own lines or spending the rest of the war imprisoned in Germany.

[C.A. A. Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each page is very informative. The reader gets a list of all The Red Baron's eighty kills during WWI. On a few rare occasions, the British and French pilots shot down by the famous German War Ace lived to tell the tale. I state it was very rare as the vast majority of the kills did not survive. If there was a pilot and a navigator and both died in the crash it was one kill. If the enemy pilot survived the crash it was still counted as a kill. The kill was for the downed aircraft first and foremost. Some of the enemy pilots who were counted as the Red Barons kills managed to outlive the ace and were able to talk about it. One such person who was the Baron's 78th kill was named Ronald Adam. He would become an actor and would ironically star in the Movie Zepplin 1971. Ronald Adam played the Prime Minister in this movie. He would also play Leigh-Mallory in another British Movie. He would also re-join the Airforce in WWII and was a Flight coordinator at Hornchurch Airfield during the Battle of Britain.

[Ian Chapman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Service details, some biography and usually a portrait photo of Richthofen's shot down opponents. Some of the photos are more personal and candid than the official military portraits. I did not see specific photo acknowledgements. A grim subject, but well done.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very complete, and in depth book.
It's obviously more of a refrence than a story book.
It's facinating, but at the same time morbid. You want to root for the Baron, but the added information about the men he shot down is sometimes depressing.
Then again, it's a war, so what do you expect?