Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.
Background
Manfred von Richthofen was born on 2 May, 1892 in Kleinburg, near Breslau, Lower Silesia (now part of the city of Wrocław, Poland), on 2 May 1892 into a prominent Prussian aristocratic family. His father was Major Albrecht Philipp Karl Julius Freiherr von Richthofen and his mother was Kunigunde von Schickfuss und Neudorff. He had an elder sister, Ilse, and two younger brothers.
When he was four years old, Manfred moved with his family to nearby Schweidnitz (now Świdnica, Poland).
His father was the first in the family to become an army officer, and both Von Richthofen and his younger brother, Lothar, followed his example.
Education
After being educated at home he attended a school at Schweidnitz before beginning military training when he was 11.
Career
After completing his cadetship, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the cavalry in 1912, and when war began in August 1914, he served briefly in the cavalry and later with the infantry as the pattern of trench warfare developed and cavalry was no longer used.
Though he was awarded the Iron Cross, he became increasingly restless and applied for transfer to the air service; in May 1915, he began training as an observer and first served in the air on the Russian and French fronts in this capacity.
His first attempt to solo, in October 1915, resulted in a crash, but by March 1916, he had reached the front as a fighter pilot. He commanded a group of fighter pilots, whose exploits earned them the name of "Richthofen's Circus, " and who were known for a chivalrous form of combat unusual in modern warfare. His first victims fell on September 17, 1916, and his total reached 80 Allied planes before his red Fokker triplane was shot down before Amiens by Captain A. Roy Brown of the Royal Flying Corps, on April 21, 1918.
