Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Olham

You'll never be the same...

Recommended Posts

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 by Olham

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue..