WW1 Ace Pilot
The son of Major Albrecht von Richthofen, a Prussian nobleman and his wife, Kunigunde, he enrolled at age 11 at the military school at Wahlstatt, and then attended the Royal Military Academy at Lichterfelde. He was a better athlete than he was a scholar, and applied his horseback riding skills to become a cavalry officer. He was commissioned in April 1911 in the 1st Regiment of Uhlans Kaiser Alexander III, and promoted to Lieutenant in 1912. Richthofen served briefly in the trenches before transferring to the German Air Force in May 1915. The star pupil of Oswald Boelcke, Richthofen learnt quickly and achieved immediate success. He took his first solo flight after only 24 hours of flight training, on 10 October 1915. A month after receiving his first Albatros, Richthofen had scored six 'kills' against Allied aircraft.
A cool and precise hunter, Richthofen flamboyance was expressed mainly in his brightly painted aircraft, a Fokker DR-1 Dridecker. His success in the air led to his being named der Rote Kampfflieger by the Germans, le petit rouge by the French, and the Red Baron by the British.
Richthofen was appointed commander of the Flying Circus in June 1917. Comprised of Germany's top fighter pilots, the new unit was highly mobile and could be quickly sent to any part of the Western Front where it was most needed. Richthofen and his pilots achieved immediate success during the air war over Ypres during August and September.
After scoring 80 confirmed kills, Richthofen was finally shot down as he flew deep into British lines in pursuit of Wilfrid May on 21 April 1918. Although Canadian flyer Arthur 'Roy' Brown - who was flying to May's aid - was officially credited with the victory, controversy remains over who actually shot Richthofen down; other evidence suggests he was hit by a single bullet fired by Australian gunners in the trenches. In any event, Manfred von Richthofen crashed into a field alongside the road from Corbie to Bray. He was 25. He was survived by his brother Lothar, also a noted ace.
A British pilot flew over the German aerodrome at Cappy and dropped a note informing the Germans of Richthofen's death. Buried in France by the British with full military honours, Richthofen's body was later exhumed and reburied in the family cemetery at Wiesbaden.
Paul Rene Fonck (1894-1953) was the Allies' most successful Ace pilot of World War One, and also the highest-scoring survivor of the war.
Fonck was conscripted into the French Army in 1914 and attended Flying School the following February. During the early stages of the war he flew with a French reconnaissance unit before transferring in time to the more active fighter service. He claimed his first 'kill' (a German aircraft on the Western Front) on 6 August 1916.
A brilliant shooter rather than an accomplished pilot (and reputed for his conservative use of ammunition), Fonck claimed no fewer than six victories in a single day, all German aircraft on 9 May 1918 over Montdidier (a feat he was later to repeat).
His tally by the close of the war, 75, made him not only the highest scoring French and Allied ace, but also the most successful fighter pilot to survive the war. Never an especially modest man, Fonck personally claimed to have downed some 127 aircraft - at least - during his service.
In addition to innumerable French honours Fonck was also the recipient of the British Military Cross and DCM.
Following the armistice Fonck worked as a racing and demonstration pilot. From 1937-39 he acted as Inspector of fighter aviation within the French Air Force. However his later record of working with the Vichy government following the fall of France in June 1940 later besmirched his reputation.
He died in 1953.
LIST OF THE ACE PILOT WITH SCORE
| Germany | Manfred von Richthofen | 80 |
| France | Rene Fonck | 75 |
| Canada | William Bishop | 72 |
| UK | Edward Mannock | 61 |
| South Africa | A. Beauchamp-Proctor | 47 |
| Australia | Robert Little | 47 |
| Ireland | George McElroy | 47 |
| Belgium | Willy Coppens | 37 |
| Austria-Hungary | Godwin Brumowski | 35 |
| Italy | Francesco Baracca | 34 |
| USA | Eddie Rickenbacker | 26 |
| Russia | Alexei Kazakov | 17 |
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