Drawing on extensive resources and material, Peter Kilduff has compiled an extensive photo-history of the short but glittering career of the Red Baron, the legendary German nobleman and air-ace.
The infamous Red Baron's life and career were both terribly short, but in that stretch of time, he gained a great deal of credit for shooting down an unheard-of number of planes. After a certain point, air force bombers were retired, at least until things really hit the fan at the end of the war. Young Von Richtofen was dead by then. He refused to retire.
I have marked this as a primary source, which is not really correct, since the man did not live to write his memoirs. It does contain a number of valuable primary sources, such as photographs and photographs of letters, and when my daughter and I did a home school assignment involving the First World War, this was a must-have, since she was interested in the air war.
If you search for sources on the Red Baron, you will be amazed how thin they are on the ground, given his fame. Part of the cost of losing a war is having a lot of your history gone, at least in many cases. This is a treasure.
Has hasn't heard of the Red Baron? Even Snoopy himself considers this man worth imitating. He is the stuff legends are made of. A hero in War. A fierce competitor. A dare devil, with such amazing skill that he painted his fleets planes RED so that others would actually see them coming, and know fear. Where most war pilots at this time had a life span of only weeks, Manfred managed to defy death for years... and make the most kills until a stray bullet took him down at the tender age of 25. This book gives detailed accounts of his history, accompanied by amazing photographs. Its worth having in your library.
The book was, essentially, a pictorial history of Richthofen's war achievements. It was a little dry and a little too detail-heavy (too many specifics, not enough of the bigger-picture), but it was an enjoyable, easy read.