You'll never be the same...

[Olham]

Looking through Peter Kilduff's book THE RED BARON, I often stopped at this portrait of

Lothar von Richthofen. To me, it presents the look of a young man, who has been facing

his own mortality. If I compare the picture with his brother Manfred and the hospital

photo, I find a big difference in the expression.

And when I look at the wreckage of his Fokker Dr.1, I wonder how he survived it.

 

Edit: what makes me wonder - the report said, Lothar had lost one (the upper?) wing.

But this crashed Fokker doesn't look like that.

Edited July 28, 2009 by Olham

[JFM]

Hi, Olham,

 

Yes, Lothar's account is a bit exaggerated; "my triplane had turned into a biplane," and all that. Still, he endured structural damage and lost much of the fabric of his upper wing--some contend due to return fire during the combat. He nursed the triplane to earth with limited controllability--he wrote he could not turn because the "rudder no longer functioned" but said nothing of his ailerons--but at low altitude encountered a high-tension wire, attempted to maneuver, lost control of the triplane and crashed. Received facial (obviously) and leg injuries.

 

 

Looking through Peter Kilduff's book THE RED BARON, I often stopped at this portrait of

Lothar von Richthofen. To me, it presents the look of a young man, who has been facing

his own mortality. If I compare the picture with his brother Manfred and the hospital

photo, I find a big difference in the expression.

And when I look at the wreckage of his Fokker Dr.1, I wonder how he survived it.

 

Edit: what makes me wonder - the report said, Lothar had lost one (the upper?) wing.

But this crashed Fokker doesn't look like that.