Richthofen as superior and comrade.
Event ID: 574
02 December 1917
Source ID: 55
“Richthofen as a superior and comrade. By F. W. Lübbert, Leunant, Jasta 11
I was filled with joy and pride when I received the news in December 1917 that Cavalry Captain von Richthofen had requested me for Fighter Squadron 11. This meant that I would now be working closely with him, the role model for all German fighter pilots. Until then, I had only met Richthofen briefly at the funeral service for my brother, who had been killed in action with Fighter Squadron 11, and I admired him solely as the famous, outstanding fighter pilot. Soon I would come to know and love all his wonderful human qualities.
Richthofen was a pilot through and through. Over time, he became one of the most popular men in Germany. One would have thought that a person who was so busy with one of the most strenuous activities there is and who enjoyed such great popularity would have more room in his heart for friendship and camaraderie. The opposite was the case. Richthofen was as good a superior as he was a comrade to the officers of his squadron and wing. He socialised with us outside of work like any other comrade. He played hockey with us when we couldn’t fly and often joined us for card games in the evenings. You could go to him with any question or concern and be sure to find sympathy and help when you needed it.
Richthofen was an unsurpassed teacher. I was in various air force reserve units and at fighter squadron school: I never met a teacher who could explain the theory of aerial combat as clearly as Richthofen. He was always ready to answer any questions that were asked of him. He even liked it when his pilots were very eager to learn. He never became impatient, no matter how novice and foolish our questions might be. He took care of each and every one of us with the greatest patience. Every young pilot who joined his squadron first had to fly to the front a few times alone with Richthofen. After the flight, the details of what they had seen and experienced were immediately discussed with the novice. Richthofen was very decisive on one point: he only tolerated pilots in his squadron who really performed well. He observed the novice for some time; if he then came to the conclusion that the person in question did not meet Richthofen’s requirements for a fighter pilot, either in terms of moral character or technical ability, the person in question was certainly sent away again. But that was precisely what was so great for us: everyone was sure that Richthofen would judge them solely on their performance, not on external factors.
As a superior, Richthofen was loved by everyone. The crews, especially the mechanics, who have a particularly close relationship with their pilots, loved and revered him above all else. It was only natural that such a man should have an ideal superior relationship with his officers. The calmness with which he treated the officers under his command, even when he must have been agitated inside, was admirable. Of the many examples of this that all of us who had the privilege of serving under him experienced, I would like to cite the following: The squadron returned from a frontline flight. The cavalry captain landed second to last. His brother Lothar was still missing. When Richthofen landed, his first question was: ‘Is Lothar back?’ The answer: ‘No, but it has been observed that at an altitude of five thousand five hundred metres, the upper wing of his triplane flew off and that he went down in a gliding flight.’ Richthofen calmly walks with the pilots to the hangar. No news has arrived there yet.
Suddenly, a message comes through the telephone: ‘Lieutenant von Richthofen has crashed near Cambrai and is dead.’ Immediately afterwards, a second message arrives: ‘Lieutenant von Richthofen has made an emergency landing and is seriously injured in the eye.’ No one knows which message is true. The mood is sombre. The cavalry captain’s expression does not change in the slightest. ‘We must wait and see,’ he says, calmly delivering his critique of today’s flight. ‘By the way, I shot down two today,’ he says casually in between. When no further news arrives for a long time, he gets into his plane and flies to the crash site to find out more about the fate of his brother, whose injuries, fortunately, turned out to be relatively minor despite the serious crash. Despite his extremely strenuous activities as a fighter pilot, superior officer and teacher, Richthofen did not neglect his intellectual and sporting interests. In the evenings, he often read, mostly serious literature and, in many cases, scientific literature. I sometimes saw him studying geographical or astronomical works, so that I was amazed that, after the enormous physical and mental strain of a day as a fighter pilot and leader, he still had the mental freshness in the evening to tackle such difficult reading. Richthofen was never idle. When he was not flying, he would shoot at the machine gun range – with fabulous skill, by the way – or he would go riding, which was an absolute necessity for him as an enthusiastic cavalryman, or he would go hunting, where he achieved astonishing results with his great marksmanship, as he also used a large part of his holiday time to hunt rare game.
Richthofen was the best superior, teacher, comrade and friend we could have imagined, and as a fighter pilot he was an unrivalled role model for us all. He possessed all the qualities that a successful fighter pilot must have: he was a good pilot, a good shot, he saw everything, he always remained calm and approached the enemy with panache. All these qualities were embodied in Richthofen like no other fighter pilot. He was an enemy of unnecessary antics in the air, so he never did a loop for fun in his life and never followed
an unhealthy ambition that had cost many other good fighter pilots their lives. ‘Slowly but surely’ seemed to be his motto. “Better to shoot down one less than to be shot down myself, because then I can no longer serve my country
.” When his squadron or wing was engaged in aerial combat, he saw everything and everyone. He did not concern himself only with his own opponent, but also kept an eye on his pilots, whether to bring them help in time or to be able to tell everyone afterwards how they should not have done it.
Rittmeister von Richthofen is no more. But his mortal spirit lives on in all of us. He will be the guiding star of German fighter aviation for all time.”
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