While I enjoyed 'The Red Baron', I felt the historical inaccuracies were almost too much to bear. The life and combats of von Richthofen and the flying circus were dramatic enough and need no alteration for the silver screen. It was unfortunate the combats depicted were less dramatic than the real life events. So why? Captain Roy Brown was seen threaded throughout the story from early in Manfred Von Richthofen 's career till his eventual demise. Along with this phony relationship with Roy Brown is the misplaced relationship with the nurse he meets much later in real life. Oh well - a little romance never hurts a film, I guess.
The first big victory of Richthofen was captain Lanoe Hawker as he is seen spiraling down through the clouds in an SE-5 and screaming as his engine is on fire. In reality Hawker is flying a DH-2. He and von Richthofen have a very long dogfight that ends up with the two fighters circling and trying to get on the others tail - a common occurrence in aerial dog fighting. Unfortunately for Hawker the prevailing winds are blowing them closer to the German lines. Running low on fuel he decides to break out of the circling maneuver and run for home. The young Richthofen gets on his tail and delivers a fatal shot to the head before his guns jam. This is a big victory for Richthofen and is correctly depicted in the film, when he takes the gun and tail numbers from Hawker's plane to decorate his wall.
The great German fighter Werner Voss was also shorted in this production. In the film he goes down in a bi-plane after a short dogfight with a couple of SE-5's. In real life - His ride is the famous DR-1 Fokker tri-plane. He takes on a swarm of SE-5's and finally succumbs after a very long and aerobatic dog fight. Perhaps this reality was too difficult to film.
To conclude the film, the gradual reduction of Germanys resources and pilot losses cast a gloom on their war effort. As more and more great pilots are lost the stage is set for the final flight of the great fighter, von Richthofen and his cousin Wolfram Richthofen. But here comes the biggest surprise of all - the final most dramatic dogfight is completely omitted from the film. After Richthofen takes off for the mission, we then see Captain Roy Brown giving Richthofen's nurse and girlfriend the Red Baron's silk flying scarf, and we know the great Baron is gone. Oh well - it's possible they had run out of funding and had to scrap the last flying scene.
The last dogfight went something like this. Wolfram Richthofen, the Baron's cousin was instructed to get down quickly in case a dogfight broke out on their mission. The same instructions were given on the other side to equally young and inexperienced Canadian pilot Wilfrid May. Both sides did this with en-experienced pilots. It just so happens that young May spotted Wolfram down low as he was. It was too much for May to ignore, and he decided to attack the young Wolfram. The Red Baron saw this and immediately went down to help his cousin. He got on the tail of Wilfrid May and wouldn't let go. OK, so this where Roy Brown comes into play. Also Canadian he feels compelled to help young Wilfrid May. He dives on von Richthofen and gets off a few shot before having to pull up and away from the fight. Von Richthofen is so absorbed with target fixation, he flies low and over the Australian lines. It is here he is most likely shot and makes a controlled landing but dies shortly after. The film could have used this scene. Although Brown was given official credit for killing von Richthofen, modern analysis points to ground fire from the Australian lines for firing the fatal shot.
The first big victory of Richthofen was captain Lanoe Hawker as he is seen spiraling down through the clouds in an SE-5 and screaming as his engine is on fire. In reality Hawker is flying a DH-2. He and von Richthofen have a very long dogfight that ends up with the two fighters circling and trying to get on the others tail - a common occurrence in aerial dog fighting. Unfortunately for Hawker the prevailing winds are blowing them closer to the German lines. Running low on fuel he decides to break out of the circling maneuver and run for home. The young Richthofen gets on his tail and delivers a fatal shot to the head before his guns jam. This is a big victory for Richthofen and is correctly depicted in the film, when he takes the gun and tail numbers from Hawker's plane to decorate his wall.
The great German fighter Werner Voss was also shorted in this production. In the film he goes down in a bi-plane after a short dogfight with a couple of SE-5's. In real life - His ride is the famous DR-1 Fokker tri-plane. He takes on a swarm of SE-5's and finally succumbs after a very long and aerobatic dog fight. Perhaps this reality was too difficult to film.
To conclude the film, the gradual reduction of Germanys resources and pilot losses cast a gloom on their war effort. As more and more great pilots are lost the stage is set for the final flight of the great fighter, von Richthofen and his cousin Wolfram Richthofen. But here comes the biggest surprise of all - the final most dramatic dogfight is completely omitted from the film. After Richthofen takes off for the mission, we then see Captain Roy Brown giving Richthofen's nurse and girlfriend the Red Baron's silk flying scarf, and we know the great Baron is gone. Oh well - it's possible they had run out of funding and had to scrap the last flying scene.
The last dogfight went something like this. Wolfram Richthofen, the Baron's cousin was instructed to get down quickly in case a dogfight broke out on their mission. The same instructions were given on the other side to equally young and inexperienced Canadian pilot Wilfrid May. Both sides did this with en-experienced pilots. It just so happens that young May spotted Wolfram down low as he was. It was too much for May to ignore, and he decided to attack the young Wolfram. The Red Baron saw this and immediately went down to help his cousin. He got on the tail of Wilfrid May and wouldn't let go. OK, so this where Roy Brown comes into play. Also Canadian he feels compelled to help young Wilfrid May. He dives on von Richthofen and gets off a few shot before having to pull up and away from the fight. Von Richthofen is so absorbed with target fixation, he flies low and over the Australian lines. It is here he is most likely shot and makes a controlled landing but dies shortly after. The film could have used this scene. Although Brown was given official credit for killing von Richthofen, modern analysis points to ground fire from the Australian lines for firing the fatal shot.