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ACES AND FIGHTER OF WORLD WAR 1
Collection of postcards.


the copyright is present only on the pictures online and not on original

Fokker Dr1

The Fokker Dr I serial number 425/17, seen in the large drawing, was the plane flown by the “Red Baron” when he was shot down in April 1918 at the age of 25 and Squadron Leader of the “Jagdgeschwader Nr. 1”. At the time he had officially shot down 80 enemy planes in as many dog fights. He was shot down over Allied territory, but it is not known exactly whether he was hit by an enemy fighter plane or by anti-aircraft fire. A British fighter plane later dropped the following message on the German base camp in Cappy: “TO THE GERMAN FLYING CORPS: Rittmeister Baron Manfred von Richthofen was killed in aerial combat on April 21st, 1918. He was buried with full military honours. From the British Royal Air Force.” The remains of von Richtofen, feared and respected in battle by his enemies, were returned to Germany in 1925 where a solemn state funeral was were held and where he was buried alongside the greatest German heroes in the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin. One can see not only his portrait and his decorations but also one the many versions of how he was shot down.