Lothar von Richthofen

Lothar von Richthofen.

Lothar-Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen (* 27. September 1894 in Breslau , † 4. July 1922 in Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel ) was a German fighter pilot in the First World War .

Life

Lothar was born the third of four children. His parents were the cavalry officer Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (1859–1920) and his wife Kunigunde, née von Schickfus and Neudorff (1868–1962). He was a descendant of the famous Prussian field marshal Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau and the general and secret war councilor Johann Philipp von Beust . Lothar's siblings were the brothers Manfred (1892–1918) and Bolko (1903–1971) and his sister Elisabeth, called Ilse (1890–1963).

When the First World War broke out, Richthofen was at the Gdansk War School . He went into the field with the Dragoon Regiment "von Bredow" (1st Silesian) No. 4 . At the suggestion of his eldest brother Manfred, Richthofen switched to the air force in 1915 and was trained as a pilot. In the combat squadron of the Supreme Army Command No. 4 ( Kagohl 4 ) he flew with Carl Bolle as an observer. In March 1917 he joined Jagdstaffel 11 at the request of his brother . Both flew their first joint mission on March 24, 1917. Lothar scored 20 confirmed kills in just six weeks.

On May 7, 1917, Richthofen shot down the famous British fighter pilot and porter of the Victoria Cross Albert Ball , which, however, is doubted by the British.

Together with Manfred, Lothar was ordered to observe the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk on December 26, 1917 . Since the negotiations were broken off prematurely, the Commander in Chief East allowed the brothers to hunt in the woods of Białowieża . It was the most exclusive hunting ground of the former Russian tsarist house. After the negotiations were resumed, both remained at the place of negotiation until mid-January 1918. Lothar was then reassigned to his squadron.

He had been awarded 40 aerial victories by the end of the war. He is considered one of the most efficient fighter pilots of the First World War, because in relation to the number of operations he even scored more kills than his famous brother Manfred von Richthofen.

After the end of the war, Richthofen married Doris Katharina Margarete Magdalene Countess von Keyserlingk in Cammerau on June 5, 1919 . The connection resulted in the children Carmen Viola (1920) and Wolf Manfred (1922). From 1921 he found a job as a simple post and air traffic pilot with the Deutsche Luft-Reederei . During a flight from Berlin to Hamburg, his plane crashed on July 4, 1922 while approaching the Hanseatic city. While the actress Fern Andra , who was also seriously injured in the crash, survived, Richthofen succumbed to his injuries on the same day. Lothar von Richthofen was buried next to his father on July 11, 1922 in the garrison cemetery in Schweidnitz . The tomb was leveled by the Poles after 1945. Today there is a soccer field at this point.

Awards

Prussian military pilot badge
Iron Cross (1914) 2nd class in October 1914, 1st class in December 1916
Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with swords in May 1917
Pour le Mérite on May 14, 1917

literature

Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume II: MZ. Bernard & Graefe publishing house, Berlin 1935, pp. 197-199.
Oskar Schweckendiek: The fighter pilot Lothar Freiherr von Richthofen. Hanseatische Verlags-Anstalt, Hamburg (1938).
Jürgen Brinkmann: The knights of the order Pour le merite 1914-1918. Th.Schäfer Druckerei GmbH Hanover, Bückeburg 1982.
Walter Zuerl: Pour le merite-Flieger. Luftfahrtverlag Axel Zuerl, 1987. ISBN 9783934596153 .
Chaz Bowyer: Albert Ball VC. London: William Kimber & Co., 1977 ISBN 0-7183-0045-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Joachim Castan: The Red Baron. The whole story of Manfred von Richthofen. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-94461-7 , p. 115.
^ Bowyer. Albert Ball VC. Pp. 155-156.
↑ Joachim Castan: The Red Baron. The whole story of Manfred von Richthofen. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-94461-7 , pp. 198-200.
^ Friedrich Wilhelm Euler : Manfred v. Richthofen and his siblings. Ancestry. In: Archives for kin research. 45th year, issue 73, February 1979, pp. 1–33, here p. 9.
↑ ^a ^b Joachim Castan: The Red Baron. The whole story of Manfred von Richthofen. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-94461-7 , p. 273.

personal data
SURNAME	Richthofen, Lothar von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Richthofen, Lothar-Siegfried Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German fighter pilot in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH	September 27, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH	4th July 1922
Place of death	Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel

[1] Joachim Castan: The Red Baron. The whole story of Manfred von Richthofen. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-94461-7 , p. 115.

[2] Bowyer. Albert Ball VC. Pp. 155-156.

[3] Joachim Castan: The Red Baron. The whole story of Manfred von Richthofen. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-94461-7 , pp. 198-200.

[4] Friedrich Wilhelm Euler : Manfred v. Richthofen and his siblings. Ancestry. In: Archives for kin research. 45th year, issue 73, February 1979, pp. 1–33, here p. 9.

[Castan-5] Joachim Castan: The Red Baron. The whole story of Manfred von Richthofen. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-94461-7 , p. 273.