Death of Rittmeister Von Richthofen  FT-FF.2 

Description: Death of Rittmeister Von Richthofen

The death of Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen (The Red Baron) Morlamcourt Ridge, near the village of Vaux-sur-Somme, France. 21st April, 1918.

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918) was a German fighter pilot known as "The Red Baron". He was the most successful flying ace of World War I, being officially credited with 80 confirmed air combat victories. Richthofen was a member of an aristocratic family with many famous relatives.

Richthofen was killed just after 11 a.m. on 21 April 1918, while flying over Morlancourt Ridge, near the Somme River.

At the time, the Baron had been pursuing (at very low altitude) a Sopwith Camel piloted by a novice Canadian pilot, Lieutenant Wilfrid "Wop" May of No. 209 Squadron, Royal Air Force. In turn, the Baron was spotted and briefly attacked by a Camel piloted Canadian Captain Arthur "Roy" Brown, who had to dive steeply at very high speed to intervene, and then had to climb steeply to avoid hitting the ground. Richthofen turned to avoid this attack, and then resumed his pursuit of May.

It during this final stage in Richthofen's pursuit of May that he was hit by a single .303 bullet, which caused such severe damage to his heart and lungs. In the last seconds of his life, he managed to make a hasty but controlled landing in a field on a hill near the Bray-Corbie road, just north of the village of Vaux-sur-Somme, in a sector controlled by the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).

His Fokker was not badly damaged by the landing, but it was soon taken apart by souvenir hunters.

The images shown are protype only and new a set are due shortly. The following changes are expected to be made in the final version, crosses will be square style, tail in on the back of plane and soldier holding the tail will be holding chunk of propeller.