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Who Killed the Red Baron?: Baron Manfred Von Richthofen
8vo, 7 3/4" to 9 3/4" tall
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 26, 2017
The subject was controversial on April 21, 1918 and still isn’t totally settled. It may have been karma from “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron,” because a few years after this 1966-67 hit, two books came out on the mystery. Both are actually the result of years, decades even, of hard work, correspondence, and research.
In 1969, P.J. Carisella, a Richtofen memorabilia collector, and James W. Ryan gave it a shot in Who Killed the Red Baron? From the acknowledgments, I believe Carisella did the investigating and Ryan did the writing. P.J. Carisella died in 1991 and an auction of Carisella’s collection was held March 14-16, 2005 (I suppose the heirs didn’t want it).
In 1970, out came The Day the Red Baron Died by Dale Titler who passed away in 2014. He wrote extensively on aeronautics and aeronautical engineering.
Each proposes a different candidate for the honor.
For Carisella and Ryan’s man of the moment, see page 251 of this book.
The first chapter, “Birth of Death in the Air,” is a short (twenty-one) pages summarizing just that. Then we have eighty-four pages of “Life of the Red Baron” and “Death of the Flying Uhlan.” These read as if written for high school students.
“Stuck in the mud of the trenches, young Manfred turned his eyes skyward when an occasional aircraft droned overhead. How lovely they were, he thought, wheeling and soaring above the clouds. He wondered what it would be like to fly, a free spirit adrift in the blue…” (p. 49). I wonder whether he had seen the opening scenes in The Blue Max.
“He visualized, too, what a dashing figure he would cut with the handsome Blue Max suspended from its black and silver ribbon around his neck. It had slipped from his grasp before when he had scored his eighth victory; he would not let it get away again” (page 71).
“He snuggled deeper into his blanket” (who saw? page 99).
All of this can be skipped by anybody familiar with the Red Baron (who, by the way did not even remotely resemble the picture on the pizza boxes). The real meat begins with Chapter 4, “The Controversy.” That, and the final chapters, describe his autopsy, such as it was, funeral, and the writers’ conclusions and how they arrived at it. To put it simply, it makes sense. One bullet went through his lungs and heart, and that was recovered by one Corporal E.J. McCarty; so, to determine who killed the Baron, it is merely sufficient to know from which gun the bullet came from; they could tell that back in 1918. Except McCarty never confessed to filching it and the bullet was subsequently lost. Carisella learned of this decades later. His hypothesis on the death of the Red Baron is built on examining the autopsy reports and the final flight pattern. I did catch a glimpse of a snippet on line that said what the bullet was and that it was sold on eBay for $10,000, but I’m viewing that skeptically.
But just how sure can anyone be ninety-nine years later of an air battle that takes place in a few second? Can you remember the exact details of a high-speed car wreck? For the anti-aircraft gun positions, those planes are zooming by you, like, fast, and it would seem one just has time to squeeze off his shots, let alone recall every little detail, especially when the identity and fame of the pilot is unknown to you at that time?
Overall, it's an interesting read (once you get pass the silly first few chapters), and likely to send one online for more info and answers. Look for “The Death of Manfred von Richtofen: Who Fired the Fatal Shot?” by Dr. M. Geoffrey Miller online. I’m waiting for Norman Franks’ 2006 The Red Baron’s Last Flight, any day now.
In 1969, P.J. Carisella, a Richtofen memorabilia collector, and James W. Ryan gave it a shot in Who Killed the Red Baron? From the acknowledgments, I believe Carisella did the investigating and Ryan did the writing. P.J. Carisella died in 1991 and an auction of Carisella’s collection was held March 14-16, 2005 (I suppose the heirs didn’t want it).
In 1970, out came The Day the Red Baron Died by Dale Titler who passed away in 2014. He wrote extensively on aeronautics and aeronautical engineering.
Each proposes a different candidate for the honor.
For Carisella and Ryan’s man of the moment, see page 251 of this book.
The first chapter, “Birth of Death in the Air,” is a short (twenty-one) pages summarizing just that. Then we have eighty-four pages of “Life of the Red Baron” and “Death of the Flying Uhlan.” These read as if written for high school students.
“Stuck in the mud of the trenches, young Manfred turned his eyes skyward when an occasional aircraft droned overhead. How lovely they were, he thought, wheeling and soaring above the clouds. He wondered what it would be like to fly, a free spirit adrift in the blue…” (p. 49). I wonder whether he had seen the opening scenes in The Blue Max.
“He visualized, too, what a dashing figure he would cut with the handsome Blue Max suspended from its black and silver ribbon around his neck. It had slipped from his grasp before when he had scored his eighth victory; he would not let it get away again” (page 71).
“He snuggled deeper into his blanket” (who saw? page 99).
All of this can be skipped by anybody familiar with the Red Baron (who, by the way did not even remotely resemble the picture on the pizza boxes). The real meat begins with Chapter 4, “The Controversy.” That, and the final chapters, describe his autopsy, such as it was, funeral, and the writers’ conclusions and how they arrived at it. To put it simply, it makes sense. One bullet went through his lungs and heart, and that was recovered by one Corporal E.J. McCarty; so, to determine who killed the Baron, it is merely sufficient to know from which gun the bullet came from; they could tell that back in 1918. Except McCarty never confessed to filching it and the bullet was subsequently lost. Carisella learned of this decades later. His hypothesis on the death of the Red Baron is built on examining the autopsy reports and the final flight pattern. I did catch a glimpse of a snippet on line that said what the bullet was and that it was sold on eBay for $10,000, but I’m viewing that skeptically.
But just how sure can anyone be ninety-nine years later of an air battle that takes place in a few second? Can you remember the exact details of a high-speed car wreck? For the anti-aircraft gun positions, those planes are zooming by you, like, fast, and it would seem one just has time to squeeze off his shots, let alone recall every little detail, especially when the identity and fame of the pilot is unknown to you at that time?
Overall, it's an interesting read (once you get pass the silly first few chapters), and likely to send one online for more info and answers. Look for “The Death of Manfred von Richtofen: Who Fired the Fatal Shot?” by Dr. M. Geoffrey Miller online. I’m waiting for Norman Franks’ 2006 The Red Baron’s Last Flight, any day now.
May 31, 2015
A very thought-provoking book in which the authors set out to firmly establish how the top fighter ace of the First World War was killed in combat in 1918. (For close to 100 years, there has been one overriding question as to how Manfred von Richthofen - the Red Baron so called because of the dominant red color he applied to the fighter planes he flew at the Front - was killed: shot down by Roy Brown's Sopwith Camel from behind or felled by ground fire?)
August 1, 2011
One of the earlier books to delve into this "history mystery".
Who brought down the First World War's top scoring ace? It wasn't Roy Brown! Required reading for all WW1 aviation enthusiasts.
Who brought down the First World War's top scoring ace? It wasn't Roy Brown! Required reading for all WW1 aviation enthusiasts.
December 22, 2012
Thorough, interesting, and easy enough to follow as it is not too technical in its forensic analysis.
October 11, 2016
Perhaps the definitive work on the shoot down of the Red Baron. Spoiler alert: Snoopy didn't do it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews