Red Baron
From Wiki Gonzalez
The Red Baron refers to Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen: the leading pilot, by number of aircraft shot down ("kills"), of the First World War. Snoopy often role-played fighting against him in the Peanuts comic strip.
For the sake of comparison, to qualify as an "ace," one must be responsible for at least five confirmed kills. Von Richthofen accounted for 80 kills. Next in line was the French ace, Rene Fonck, who had 75 kills. The leading American ace in World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker, had 26 kills.
Von Richthofen was a cold and ruthless killer, often aiming directly for the pilot, not his aircraft, and on at least one occasion, strafing aircrew on the ground as they tried to escape their aircraft.
Von Richthofen flew mainly Albatros D.II and D.III and Fokker Dr.I fighters. His overall red Dr.I triplane is probably the most well-known of all World War One aircraft, although Richthofen had only 20 of his kills while flying the Dr.I. Von Richthofen gained his nickname "The Red Baron" because he had red paint on most of his aircraft, although generally only parts of his aircraft were painted red.
Von Richthofen was himself killed on April 21, 1918, when his triplane was shot down, either by Canadian pilot Roy Brown or by ground fire from Australian troops. At this late date, the identity of who killed "The Red Baron" will probably never be known.
Of course, every Cub fan knows that the real Red Baron was Rick Sutcliffe.
