The Red Baron

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Oskar the Pilot

Oskar the Pilot

Airman
46
0
Dec 27, 2011
Great Britain
Greetings everyone, it's me again! *groans*

World War I aviation really doesn't get enough credit, and I created this post purely for us to discuss our thoughts on the best fighter pilot of the Great war, the German Red Baron!

The Red Baron.jpg


-Oskar
 
Seeing as he has been mentioned here I'd just recommend the film 'The Red Baron' of 2008, I thoroughly enjoyed it (along with Flyboys of the same year about the Lafayette Escadrille).

I don't know if this has been brought up before but here's a topic to gross-out to.......early engines running on Castor oils (and so burning them surrounding the pilots in the fumes), not only did those poor sods have to suffer the terrifying possibilities of fighting (with no parachutes) each other in relatively flimsy planes but the planes themselves by virtue of the engines could cause serious, er, 'trouser accidents' thanks to the castor oils used.
Lovely huh?
 
 
Congrats, Gixx, seldom is the constant explosive diarrhea and abdominal cramps mentioned. one of the reasons so much drinking went on. the castor bean is very difficult to harvest causing severe health problems and producing the oil releases a very toxic compound. Mussolini force-fed dissenters large quantities of castor oil as a means of control.
 
Ricin is made from the castor bean, just eating castor beans can kill you. Though the posion is partly broke down by stomach acids.
 
Gixxerman said:
Seeing as he has been mentioned here I'd just recommend the film 'The Red Baron' of 2008, I thoroughly enjoyed it (along with Flyboys of the same year about the Lafayette Escadrille).

I don't know if this has been brought up before but here's a topic to gross-out to.......early engines running on Castor oils (and so burning them surrounding the pilots in the fumes), not only did those poor sods have to suffer the terrifying possibilities of fighting (with no parachutes) each other in relatively flimsy planes but the planes themselves by virtue of the engines could cause serious, er, 'trouser accidents' thanks to the castor oils used.
Lovely huh?
Click to expand...


Ooh, I watched the Red Baron, beautiful film. Although, I expected more dogfights and less romance...
 
I read somewhere that Roy Brown, the Camel pilot initially credited with shooting Richtofen down had piles!

On the subject of hero worship, the Aviation Heritage Centre at Omaka (Peter Jackson's museum) has a diorama of Richtofen's triplane being looted by the Aussie troops. This was torn from the wreck.

Dr I cross s.jpg


Richtofen Dr I s.jpg


Richtofens Dr I s.JPG


The RAAF Museum at Point Cook also has fragments of the triplane.
 
Especially the blood trickling out of his mouth. The guy stealing his boots comes from an anecdote I'm not sure of the origin of. They survive at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra together as a pair after being separated for some time.
 
Sad testimony to human barbarism. War is hell, and trophies of war, and the quest to get the trophies often turn men into animals. I remember seeing young soldiers carrying cameras to photograph their kills as if it were a sport. I remember asking them what they were going to tell their children someday, when they find those photos.
 
evangilder said:
Sad testimony to human barbarism. War is hell, and trophies of war, and the quest to get the trophies often turn men into animals. I remember seeing young soldiers carrying cameras to photograph their kills as if it were a sport. I remember asking them what they were going to tell their children someday, when they find those photos.
Click to expand...

Pretty much on the money there EG.
John
 
Yes, well put Eric, must have been a surreal experience over there. I had a friend who served aboard HMS Glamorgan during the Falklands, it was one of the ships hit by an Exocet. He said after the war he remembers seeing all these photos of despicable things the Brits did with dead Argie corpses.

Regarding Richtofen; I believe the whole hero worship thing gets a little out of hand, a bit like the WW2 Luftwaffe lovers (dare I say it). The Aviation Heritage Centre is a terrific place, but its vision of the war is that one that has been perpetuated by the popular media; one of gallant, fearless Knights of the air and doesn't take into account the very real horrors of the war. Sure, the Richtofen diorama is graphic, but perhaps that is what's needed. Places like this need to enforce that the war in the air was as brutal and uncompromising as seeing a dead body being stripped of its dignity.
 
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