Photo: via Alex Imrie
HISTORY
On 30 October 1917, he crashed one of the early production examples of the Dr.I that had reached Jasta 11 just recently. He walked away from this incident without injury.
Photo: author's collection
425/17 flown by Rtm. Manfred A. Freiherr von Richthofen, CO of JG 1, Lechelle,
France, March 1918
Von Richthofen had his aircraft painted red since January 1917, when he flew an
Albatros D.III, which he called “Le Petit Rouge”. He continued this practice after
switching to Fokker Dr. I, which he used as commander of Jagdgeschwader
1. The famous Dr.I 425/17 was probably painted red at the factory. The quality
of the paintwork is evident in the photographs and would be hardly achieved
at the combat unit level. The area under the cockpit on the left side bore
significant scuffs.
May 2023
Lothar (left) and Manfred von Richthofen show off their “Pour le Mérite”
in front of one of Jasta 11´s Fokker Dr.Is, likely in the spring of 1918.
INFO Eduard
9