Actual historic film of the Red Baron

[Bill Burton]

Thought this was worth sharing

BB

[Russell Shaffer]

Nice find. It was harder in those days.

[john e. holliday]

What a great piece of history.  Too bad he couldn't have been on our side.

[Randy Ryan]

Great stuff, anybody notice Goering (3:05) and Fokker (4:40 & 5:25) in there??

[Warren Wagner]

Guys,

Man, what a fantastic video clip.  That is a rare and priceless bit of
history.

I was a little confused by the troops that were inspecting the downed
plane.  I would have thought they were enemy troops, and indeed, they
were laughing and joking around.  The inspection looked like it was done
by enemy troops, but I saw an Iron Cross hanging around Officer's neck,
which meant he was German.

To see them hustle the Dr.1 around in preparation for flight is amazing.

[phil myers]

Bill, great bit of old film there.. I may be totally wrong but is that a British POW pilot surrounded by his captors near the end of the clip.. No head dress and tunic unbuttoned plus looks like Royal Flying Corps wings on tunic.
Phil

[Steve Helmick]

Bill, great bit of old film there.. I may be totally wrong but is that a British POW pilot surrounded by his captors near the end of the clip.. No head dress and tunic unbuttoned plus looks like Royal Flying Corps wings on tunic.
Phil

Yep, that's what it looked like to me...the fresh POW was just happy to be alive. Plus, there was a lot of mutual respect between pilots in those days...not so much political hatred.

Dad told us about flying "weather flights" in an open cockpit biplane out of Selfridge Field (Detroit) in the Winter, late 1930's...negative 40 deg. F, 4 am takeoff.  Thus all the leather and fur duds!  Steve

[BOB ALLAN]

The group at the end of the film clip are examining a Sopwith PUP that the Baron has just shot down (victory #61) and includes the British Royal Flying Corps pilot, Lt. A. F. Bird. The guy wearing Bird's flying helmet and coat is none other than Anthony Fokker who happened to be visiting at the time. It was Fokker who filmed the Baron getting ready for take-off at the Jasta 11 airfield at Marckebeeke.

[FLOYD CARTER]

I sometimes have the same difficulty getting my pants on in the morning.

I didn't see Manfred doing a pre-flight check of his plane.  Very bad.  He could get into trouble not inspecting the rigging.

[BOB ALLAN]

One last thing I forgot to mention is - watch very carefully when Manfred removes his officers cap, and dons his flying helmet. His head is still bandaged after being almost killed in a fight with British FE 2's of No. 20 Sqn. on 6th July 1917. He suffered constant headaches after the close shave, made worse by flying which exhausted him.

[Frank Imbriaco]

Awesome  footage!  Hand priming each cylinder . And, I imagine that they were pointing at bullet holes in the cowl ? How cool.

[Randy Ryan]

One last thing I forgot to mention is - watch very carefully when Manfred removes his officers cap, and dons his flying helmet. His head is still bandaged after being almost killed in a fight with British FE 2's of No. 20 Sqn. on 6th July 1917. He suffered constant headaches after the close shave, made worse by flying which exhausted him.

I can see what looks like the corner of a bandage under the band of his hat as he turns around but very hard to tell. What was the strap around his head? Is that what you're referring to? Is it some sort of medical device perhaps?

[Randy Ryan]

The group at the end of the film clip are examining a Sopwith PUP that the Baron has just shot down (victory #61) and includes the British Royal Flying Corps pilot, Lt. A. F. Bird. The guy wearing Bird's flying helmet and coat is none other than Anthony Fokker who happened to be visiting at the time. It was Fokker who filmed the Baron getting ready for take-off at the Jasta 11 airfield at Marckebeeke.

"Great stuff, anybody notice Goering (3:05) and Fokker (4:40 & 5:25) in there??" I mentioned this earlier. Have a close look at the left of the screen at 3:05, that's Goering I'm quite sure.

[FLOYD CARTER]

I don't think the mechanic was "priming" the rotary.  Instead, the valve rockers  are exposed and need to be lubed before every run.  My Siemens SH14 radial engine in my Focke-Wulf 44 had the same grease fittings on each cylinder.  They were lubed usually before each run.

Floyd

[BOB ALLAN]

I can see what looks like the corner of a bandage under the band of his hat as he turns around but very hard to tell. What was the strap around his head? Is that what you're referring to? Is it some sort of medical device perhaps?

Yes - there is a thin leather strap around his head. Only the front half of Manfred's head appears to be bandaged, so I guess the strap was there to hold the bandage in place and stop it sliding off.

[Bill Johnson]

I don't think the mechanic was "priming" the rotary.  Instead, the valve rockers  are exposed and need to be lubed before every run.  My Siemens SH14 radial engine in my Focke-Wulf 44 had the same grease fittings on each cylinder.  They were lubed usually before each run.

Floyd

That's what they are doing, lubing the rocker arms. I didn't know the Fokker used a rotary radial like the Sopwith Camel! That presents some serious gyroscopic forces to contend with in flight.