Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the "Red Baron", was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I and one of the most famous aviators in history, as well as the subject of many books, films and other media. The following is a list of mentions of him in popular culture.
Popular fiction
In Youjo Senki, the protagonist Tanya von Degurechaff is based on the Red Baron.
In Dean McLaughlin's "Hawk Among the Sparrows", the protagonist, a pilot of a modern VTOL interceptor, accidentally appears in 1918, where he withstands a Red Baron analogue named Bruno Keyserling.
Hans von Hammer, the troubled protagonist of DC Comics's Enemy Ace was inspired in part by Richthofen. Piloting a scarlet Fokker Dr. 1, von Hammer is a flying knight who fights according to the code of chivalry, despite being deeply disturbed by the slaughter around him. Unlike the Baron, however, Hans von Hammer was depicted as having survived to fight in World War II, in adventures inspired by those of Adolf Galland.
The second volume in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, The Bloody Red Baron, features a vampire Richthofen who undergoes treatment in order to transform into a large bat-like creature and dispense with the need for an aeroplane.
Kim Newman's novel Back in the USSA features the Red Baron assisting Mexican forces invading Texas, during a communist revolution in the United States led by Eugene Debs.
The last book in the Time Machine series, World War I Flying Ace, asks the reader to find out who shot down the Red Baron and take a photograph to prove the answer.
In the novel Burning Shore by Wilbur Smith, one of the main characters, Lord Andrew Killigan, is shot down by the Red Baron's Flying Circus.
In Fred Saberhagen'sBerserker short story "Wings out of Shadow" (1974), a personality construct of Manfred von Richthofen, together with other World War Iflying ace constructs, plays a pivotal role in a defensive withdrawal while pursued by a numerically superior force.
In Biggles Learns to Fly, the protagonist, James "Biggles" Bigglesworth, find himself confronting Richthofen's Flying Circus several times. He engages in direct combat with Richthofen during his first patrol with Royal Flying Corps Squadron 266, and later devises a plan for multiple squadrons to attack the Richthofen Circus stationed at Douai.
Comic strips (Peanuts)
Richthofen was mentioned regularly in the comic stripPeanuts, by Charles Schulz, and was included in subsequent television specials as a running gag. Charlie Brown's beagle Snoopy frequently fantasized about being a World War I flying ace. In his daydreams, he imagined his dog house to be a Sopwith Camel and carried a personal grudge against the Red Baron, whom he imagined to be his arch enemy. In spite of Snoopy's best efforts, however, the "Baron" always shot him down with little difficulty, leading Snoopy to curse the Baron for his success and swear to one day shoot him down. This recurring story arc inspired songs by The Royal Guardsmen. The imaginary air battles between Snoopy and the Baron are referenced in The Bloody Red Baron, the second book in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, where a beagle resembling Snoopy is shot by the Baron, who feels a strange hatred towards the animal he cannot explain. Despite the antagonistic relationship the characters had in the comic strip, novels and video games, other media depicted them in less combative roles. In the Royal Guardsmen's song "Snoopy's Christmas", the Baron and Snoopy are depicted as participating in The Christmas Truce. A later song by the Guardsmen, "Snoopy for President", sees the Baron cast the ballot that allows Snoopy to become President of the United States, explicitly referring to Snoopy as his friend, as he also does in "Snoopy's Christmas".
Board game references
The Red Baron was the inspiration for Avalon Hill's 1970s board game Richthofen's War, one of the first World War I aerial combat board games.[1]
The Red Baron was also prominently featured in Snoopy & The Red Baron, a Milton Bradley skill game released in 1970.
1966: Richthofen appears briefly in the film The Blue Max, played by Carl Schell. He offers the film's main character, Bruno Stachel, a position in Jagdgeschwader 1, although Stachel declines.
1970: In the Blake Edwards movie Darling Lili, set in World War I and starring Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson, the Red Baron is more accurately portrayed as quieter and more reserved than portrayed in The Blue Max (wherein the Baron comes across as rather pompous) and was played by actor Ingo Mogendorf.
2005: Curse of the Were-Rabbit; in the antepenultimate scene of Aardman Studios' first feature-length film in the Wallace & Gromit franchise, canine antagonist Philip pursues canine protagonist Gromit on a fairgrounds. Gromit comes upon a ride called "Dog Fighters", enters it and flies out in a Sopwith Camel, but Philip follows close behind in Richtofen's Fokker Dr.I, somewhat similar to the setting of the Baron's final fight.
2012: War of the Worlds: Goliath; Manfred Von Richthofen leads the steampunk ARES biplanes and triplanes against the invading Martian forces.
2015: The Peanuts Movie, created by Blue Sky Studios, features Richthofen's plane as both a toy and when Snoopy is creating his story.
Music
Musicals
Des McAnuff wrote The Death of Von Richthofen as Witnessed from Earth, which he directed at the Public Theater in 1982, for which he was awarded a Rockefeller grant.[6]
"The Red Baron" (The DDTs), instrumental by a Dunedin surf-punk band named after the bass player Aaron Allcock. The Baron currently lives in Melbourne, Australia producing electronic progressive trance and plotting the resurrection of the soul of blues rock.
The Red Baron Prince Hirik And We’Na Bird (June 18, 1957)
The Red Baron makes an appearance in the Private Plane episode of the BBCsitcomBlackadder Goes Forth. After joining the Royal Flying Corps as an excuse to escape the trenches, Captain Blackadder and Private Baldrick are shot down and captured by Manfred von Richthofen (Adrian Edmondson). In a parody of wartime British propaganda, the Baron is portrayed as a stuffy martinet with an exaggerated Prussianaccent who lacks a sense of humour, but tries to make up for it. He informs Blackadder and Baldrick, "For us, a toilet is a mundane, functional item. For you it is the basis of an entire culture!" Before retiring to his chateau, Richthofen comments that "Gallant Lord Flashheart still eludes me." Soon after, Flashheart and Lieutenant George arrive to rescue their fellow flyers. At last facing his greatest adversary, Richthofen launches into a tedious soliloquy about chivalry and honor. Disgusted, Lord Flashheart shoots the Baron dead and screams, "What a poof!"
Richthofen was featured in an episode of Fantasy Island, titled "The Red Baron", in which a patron of the island wished to save the Baron (portrayed by Ron Ely) from his doom. (October 27, 1979)[7]
In the animated TV series Wacky Races, the Red Max and his car/airplane hybrid, the Crimson Haybaler, are based on the Red Baron and his plane.
Char Aznable of Mobile Suit Gundam is based partially on the Red Baron, nicknamed the Red Comet. Both are aces famous for their striking red vehicles.[8]
The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode "The Ghost of the Red Baron" features a villain masquerading as Richthofen's ghost.
Richthofen appears in The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones TV film "Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen", in which he is portrayed by Marc Warren. In the film, Richthofen has several run-ins with a young Indiana Jones (played by Sean Patrick Flanery). During their first encounter, Indy jokingly asks the German pilots why they don't paint their planes red. Indy's remark inspires Richthofen to give his plane a paint job.
In Batman: The Brave and The Bold Batman gets the assistance of a man who flies a red triplane suspiciously close in appearance to Von Richtofen's Dr1 Fokker Triplane.
In the animated TV series SpongeBob SquarePants, in the episode "Shanghaied", SpongeBob mistook the Flying Dutchman for The Red Baron.
The pilot episode of the 1982 TV series Voyagers! sees the two main characters dogfighting with Richthofen when they travel back in time. In that episode, Richthofen personally challenges American ace Eddie Rickenbacker; in reality, no such engagement ever occurred.
Although never seen directly, echoing the encounters in the strips, Richthofen made his first "appearance" with the Peanuts gang in their third animated TV special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in which he battles and defeats Snoopy. Snoopy and the Baron would have later encounters in various other animated specials as well, each time with the Baron defeating Snoopy with relative ease.
In Ring Raiders, the character Baron von Claudeitz is meant as an homage to Richthofen, and retains his original (modified) aircraft, a Fokker Dr.I.[citation needed]
In It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Charlie Kelly has a recurring dream about a German man named "Hans Wormhat," who flies a biplane and shoots at Charlie as he runs across a field. The gang misinterpret Charlie's dream journal entry about "worm hat," and present him with birthday gifts that interpret the concept of a worm hat. Season 6, episode 10 :"Charlie Kelly: King of the Rats"
Video game references
There have been a number of World War I flight simulators involving Manfred von Richthofen. They include Hunt for the Red Baron, written and published by Small Rockets, Knights of the Sky by Microprose, and Red Baron by Dynamix and published by Sierra Entertainment which was followed up by a less successful sequel Red Baron II.
Empire Earth has a German campaign in which four missions allow the players to control Manfred von Richthofen.
In League of Legends, one of the champions, Corki, had a purchasable skin designated "Red Baron Corki" that is designed to make his aircraft a red World War I biplane.
In Left 4 Dead, there is an achievement, "Dead Baron", that can be earned by completing the Dead Air campaign, a campaign set in an airport.
In the Nintendo DS game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, one of the characters is named Manfred von Karma. Like the Red Baron, he is known for having a perfect career. He also receives his comeuppance from a single bullet.
Sky Kid, an arcade video game by Namco depicts the fanciful air journey of the "Red Baron" and the "Blue Max".
Titles for the Atari system in the 1980s, and in 2006 by Namco for PlayStation 2, PSP, and Xbox game systems have also been released.[9]
The Sony PlayStation 2 game, Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, features a character named "The Black Baron", a flying ace who has never lost a dogfight.
In Call of Duty: Black Ops II, if the player earned a kill with a Dragonfire, a flying vehicle, they earn a badge named "Red Baron".
"Snoopy and the Red Baron" is a video game released in 1983 for the Atari 2600. The game is a single player shooter in which the player guides Snoopy on his dog house in combat against the Red Baron.
The arcade version of Trivial Pursuit included a player avatar called "Baron von Rightoften", designed to resemble the Red Baron.
The Nintendo entertainment system game Indiana Jones: The Chronicles, set during World War 1, contains an airplane combat level with the main enemy "baron von Richtoven", who is allegedly shot down by Indiana Jones and William Bishop.
In Thrillville: Off the Rails there is an arcade flying ace named Barry von Rictoven who is referred to several times as "The Red Barry" and flies a triplane.
Wings, a Cinemaware title in which the player is an Allied pilot in France during World War I, follows the vicissitudes of the Red Baron, from his rising to his death.
In Halo 5: Guardians the gamemode "Warzone" includes a boss named Baron 'Sroam, who is the pilot of a red flying vehicle.
Richthofen is prominently featured in the World War I-themed first-person shooter Battlefield 1.
Titanfall 2 features a skin for the Ion Titan called "Red Baron". It is unlocked if a save file for Battlefield 1 is located on the same system.
George Barris custom Hot Rod automobile, merchandised into the Hot Wheels toy cars and collectible scale cars; also the Tom Daniels Monogram model car kit.
Formula One driving legend Michael Schumacher was nicknamed "the Red Baron", due to his German heritage and his fame as a driver for the red colored Ferrari team.
Baseball pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, during his career was nicknamed "The Red Baron", because of the color of his beard and hair.
A great variety of model airplanes of all scales, and flying balsa planes, portrait dolls and figurines representing the baron and his aircraft have been produced. The Red Baron name has been attached to small plush figures and teddy bears and is widely applied to products unrelated to the WWI ace.
Rhinebeck Aerodrome
The exploits of Richthofen and his peers inspired Cole Palen to create Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Rhinebeck, New York. Palen is credited with creating the kit-plane craze in the U.S., and was instrumental in restoring and/or retrieving priceless examples of World War I aviation. Palen built a replica Fokker Dr I, which he flew in hundreds of simulated dogfights at Rhinebeck.[14]
