Three Wings for the Red Baron: Von Richthofen, Strategy, Tactics and Airplanes

Description

Three Wings for the Red Baron explores the career of Manfred von Richthofen, top fighter pilot in the Imperial German Air Service during World War I, and tells the story of his famous three-winged airplane, the Fokker Triplane. A descendant of prosperous landowners, Baron von Richthofen was no revolutionary; and yet, while seeking to fit in with his peers, he was often driven to move into new directions dictated by personal logic. Trained for the cavalry, he switched to the Air Service when machine guns doomed the fate of the horse soldier, for if he were to die, it must not be a pointless death. As a flier having to overcome a lack of talent for aerobatic manoeuvring, he chose the duel as a role model; pilot versus pilot. He learned that much could be achieved with a powerful single-seater machine against a low powered and poorly manoeuvring enemy two-seater. This became Richthofen's preferred form of combat, leading to an extraordinary series of victories. With the advent of fully aerobatic combat, Richthofen was forced to rethink his approach. The chance sighting of an agile British Sopwith Triplane demanded a fresh response. He enlisted the services of Anthony Fokker to design a competing German Triplane. This machine, the Red Baron's Three Wings, led to his final victories, and to his death. The special tactics employed by the Red Baron were crucial to the success of his Three Wings, in particular those downplaying speed and stressing agility. Numerous sketches included in the book serve to make the Red Baron's combat tactics clear. Three Wings for the Red Baron represents an important contribution to the study of the Red Baron and World War I aerial combat tactics.

Leon Bennett is a graduate of the New York University College of Engineering, with both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Aeronautical Engineering. He continued as a research worker at the University, attaining the rank of Senior Research Scientist, and also lectured on prosthetic devices at the NYU Medical School. Upon the closing of the Engineering College, he transferred to the Veterans Administration, where his research efforts won the 1984 award for vascular research by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. His military service was spent as a researcher at the Ballistics Research Lab, at Aberdeen, MD. His research output consists of 36 articles on subjects such as insect flight, blood flow, and load dissipation by human tissue. Following retirement, he has written two highly-regarded books about World War I aerial combat, Three Wings for the Red Baron, and Gunning for the Red Baron. He has also prepared numerous how-to articles for hobby magazines featuring model aeroplanes, including Flying Models, Model Aviation and the Flying Aces Newsletter.