Lothar von Richthofen

Lothar-Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen (27 September 1894 – 4 July 1922) was a German First World War fighter ace credited with 40 victories. He was a younger brother of top-scoring ace Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) and a distant cousin of Luftwaffe Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen.

Early career and Jasta 11
Like his brother Manfred, Lothar began the war as a cavalry officer with the 4th Dragoon Regiment. In October 1914, while stationed at Attigny, he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for valour. The following month, his regiment was transferred to the Eastern Front.

Richthofen joined the German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte) in late 1915. He served from January 1916 as an observer with Kasta 23, sometimes observing for Otto Creutzmann and saw action during the Battle of Verdun. He won the Iron Cross 1st Class in December and then began training as a pilot.

His first posting as a pilot was to his brother's Jasta 11 on 6 March 1917. His first victory claim followed on 28 March for an FE 2b of No. 25 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps.

Taking part in the period of German dominance called Bloody April by the British, Lothar had won 15 more victories by the beginning of May. When his brother went on leave, Lothar von Richthofen assumed command of the squadron. The Red Baron considered his brother's combat style to be reckless, describing him as a "butcher" rather than a "sportsman", and worried about his safety.

Richthofen and Albert Ball
During the first week of May 1917, Lothar von Richthofen scored three more victories. On the evening of 7 May near Douai, he led a flight of 5 Albatros D.III's from Jasta 11 that encountered 11 S.E.5s from the "elite" No. 56 Squadron RFC, including the top English ace of the time, Captain Albert Ball, as well as a SPAD S.VII from No. 19 Squadron, and a Sopwith Triplane of No 8 (Naval) Squadron. In a running battle in deteriorating visibility in the middle of a thunderstorm over Bourlon Wood, both sides became scattered. Richthofen engaged in single combat with the British Triplane. At about the same time, Ball was seen by fellow 56 Squadron pilot Cyril Crowe chasing a red Albatros into a thundercloud. Ball lost control of his plane and crashed fatally. Though forced to land his damaged aircraft, Richthofen escaped injury. The British Sopwith Triplane involved in the action returned to base undamaged.

Richthofen posted a claim for shooting down the Sopwith Triplane. However, the propaganda value of Ball's death under the guns of a German pilot was obvious, and the German High Command awarded a victory over Ball to Lothar. The fallacy of the award was readily apparent. The idea that an experienced pilot such as Richthofen would confuse a triplane with a biplane was ludicrous. Leutnant Hailer, a German pilot on the ground who witnessed the crash and was the first German at the crash scene saw no battle damage to Ball's plane. The doctor who autopsied Ball reported massive injuries to Ball from the crash, but no bullet wounds. Nevertheless, the official line was that Lothar von Richthofen shot down Albert Ball. Later research suggests that Ball became disoriented by vertigo, accidentally entering an inverted dive which choked his plane's carburettor and stopped the engine, causing him to crash.

Pour le Mérite
Richthofen raised his total to 24 by 13 May, when, after shooting down a BE.2, he was wounded in the hip by anti-aircraft fire and crash-landed; his injuries kept him out of combat for five months. On 14 May he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, and he resumed command of Jasta 11 in September 1917. In early 1918 he suffered a severe ear infection and was hospitalised in Berlin.

Returning to his unit in February, he claimed 3 Bristol Fighter F2.Bs on 11 and 12 March, before he was again forced down on 13 March by a Sopwith Camel flown by Captain Augustus Orlebar of No. 73 Squadron. Nursing his crippled Fokker Dr1 Triplane into a landing, Richthofen clipped a high-tension wire and crashed heavily, suffering serious head injuries. He was still recovering when he learned of his brother's death.

Lothar returned to service with Jasta 11 in July 1918. He scored his final victory (a DH-9a) on 12 August 1918, flying a Fokker D.VII. The next day he was again wounded in action against Sopwith Camels, probably by Captain Field E. Kindley of the 148th Aero Squadron USAS. He was promoted to Oberleutnant, and saw no further combat before the war ended in November.

Considering the amount of time Lothar von Richthofen spent on the front and in hospitals, he was one of the most combat efficient and prolific flying aces of the war, perhaps even more so than his brother Manfred. Of his total of 40 confirmed victories, Lothar scored 33 in just three months: 15 in April 1917, 8 in May 1917, and 10 in August 1918.

Orders and Medals
Prussia / German Empire
 * Pour le Mérite, 14 May 1917 (in recognition of his 24th aerial victory)
 * Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight’s Cross with Swords, 10 May 1917
 * Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd Class

Other German States
 * Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Swords (Bavaria)
 * Hanseatic Cross, Hamburg

Other Central Powers
 * Liakat Medal in Silver with Sabers (Ottoman Empire)
 * Turkish War Medal of 1915 (a.k.a. "Gallipoli Star" or "Iron Crescent"), Ottoman Empire

Prussian / Imperial German Badges
 * German Army Pilot’s Badge
 * Wound Badge in Silver

Post war
With the return of peace, Lothar von Richthofen worked briefly on a farm before accepting an industrial position. He married Countess Doris von Keyserlingk in Cammerau in June 1919, fathering a son, Wolf-Manfred (1922–2010) and a daughter, Carmen Viola (1920–1971), before the marriage was dissolved. He then became a commercial pilot, carrying passengers and mail between Berlin and Hamburg. On July 4, 1922 Richthofen died in a crash of his LVG C VI at Fuhlsbüttel due to an engine failure. Also on board were actress Fern Andra and her director Georg Bluen. Bluen died the following day, but Andra survived, spending a year recovering from her injuries.

Lothar von Richthofen was interred next to his father at the Garrison Cemetery in Schweidnitz, but the cemetery was levelled by the Poles when the city was transferred to Poland after World War II. Today the area is a football field, although von Richthofen's headstone still exists.

In popular culture

 * Lothar von Richthofen and his brother Manfred are featured as World War I German Aces in the popular PC game Red Baron
 * In the 1971 Von Richthofen and Brown, Lothar von Richthofen is portrayed by Brian Foley
 * In the 2008 biopic The Red Baron, Lothar von Richthofen is portrayed by actor Volker Bruch
 * He and his brothers also appeared in the 2006 video game Snoopy vs. the Red Baron
 * He may have appeared in the 2010 sequel Snoopy Flying Ace
 * He appears in the Riverworld book series by fantasy author Philip José Farmer.
 * One can play as Lothar von Richthofen in the Flying Corps video game.