one of the greatest legends of

aviation. Born in a part of Germany

that is now Poland, Richthofen was

the son of an aristocratic Prussian

family. A far better athlete than

scholar, he wanted to become a

calvary officer, but the changing

nature of war had eliminated the

need for calvary, so, he turned to

the "new calvary," aviation. When

World War I began, Richthofen

joined the Fliegertruppe as an

observer in order to get into combat

more quickly. After just 24 hours of flight training, he made his

first solo flight. He crashed trying to land. By 1916, he was a

combat pilot, and scored his first confirmed victory on

September 17. On November 23 of the same year, he shot down

the British ace Major Lanoe Hawker, his eleventh kill. On

January 4, 1917, Richthofen shot down his 16th plane, making

him the top living German ace at the time. He recieved the

Orden Pour le Merite (a.k.a. the "Blu

planes red, to show they were hunting this "Red Baron." In April

him to fly unless absolutely neccessary (a loophole he used

Germany's highest honors. Given command of Jasta 11, he began

commander, the pilots of Jasta 11 begin to put some red on their

Anthony Fokker, and his design of the Dr.I triplane, which the

his erratic, untrained piloting which saved him, until the Red

Some common words found in the essay are:
Goring Lothar, Max Germany's, War Richthofen, Sopwith Camel, Baron April, Poland Richthofen, Lanoe Hawker, Red Baron, April Richthofen, Wilhelm II, red baron, jasta 11, von richthofen, command jasta, richthofen shot, manfred von, command jasta 11, manfred von richthofen,
Approximate Word count = 1167
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)