Richthofen's friendship in Jasta 11

3 December 2003, 11:23 AM

In Quentin Reynolds book They Fought for the Sky he writes about MvR:

"He gave his friendship only to Wolff. Gussman and two or three others left of the original group trained by Boelcke."

Who might these pilots have been do Forum members think?

FliegerJG1 · 3 December 2003, 06:47 PM

Hello Signalman!

I believe that one of these men cetainly was Leutnant Erwin Böhme. He and MvR maintained a close friendship until his (Böhme's) death on 29 November 1917. They were amongst the original men selected by Boelcke for Jasta 2.

Best regards,
FliegerJG1

Rick · 3 December 2003, 07:02 PM

I would be of the opinion that any 'facts' written by Quentin Reynolds must be taken with a grain of salt. In the list of 'MvR friends', neither Wolff not Gussmann served with Jasta 2, let alone with MvR. They didn't become flying comrades until they were members of Jasta 11. R.

FliegerJG1 · 3 December 2003, 07:52 PM

Generally speaking, the English authors such as Quentin Reynolds and Arch Whitehouse are not particularly good sources for factual references. Too much drama and fiction creeps into the writing.

Those who have taught me concerning WW1 aviation have said that the German aviation books from the 1930's do a much better job describing the personalities of the different German aces.

FliegerJG1

Barrett · 3 December 2003, 08:09 PM

MvR was friendly with Voss (they traded visits at their parents' homes) but seems to have retained a special spot for Wolff. MvR also was close to Georg Zeumer, one of his first pilots (who reportedly taught vR to fly.) Reynolds refers to Zeumer as "Franz"

stephen · 4 December 2003, 05:35 AM

Manfred also seems to have been the sort of fellow that made many others around him feel like they were good friends. I had a brief correspondence with Karl Schoenebeck who indicated the same thing.

Alan · 4 December 2003, 10:41 AM

I always got the impression from my reading that he was rather friendly with Karl Emil Schäfer as well...

retread · 4 December 2003, 07:07 PM

I remember reading that von R. held Hans Joachim Wolff ( Jasta 11, ten victories) among his favorites. It was claimed that at some point Wolff had saved the Baron's bacon during a combat and could do little or nothing wrong afterwards, at least in the Rittmeister's point of view.

FliegerJG1 · 5 December 2003, 05:28 AM

Yet another good friend of Manfred would be Leutnant Alfred Gerstenberg. Quoting from The Red Baron Combat Wing by Peter Kilduff: "He and Richthofen had begun their military careers in the same regiment and then served together in Kaghol 2 in Russia. Gerstenberg was a willing pupil and tried very hard to shoot down enemy aircraft. He was unsuccessful, but was one of the few non-scoring fighter pilots retained in Jasta 11."

The fact that Gerstenberg was allowed to remain in Jasta 11 certainly speaks a great deal about the strength of their friendship since those who didn't perform were transferred out.

Gerstenberg was also the one who cared for Manfred's Great Dane, Moritz, after Manfred's death.

The pattern here shows that the Rittmeister's best friends were those whom he met early in his career. As the war progressed, it was very emotionally hazardous to develop any close relationships since one could be here today and gone tomorrow.

Regards...FliegerJG1

pmirl · 5 December 2003, 08:33 AM

Have you seen that web site where this girl claims to be MvR reincarnated?

Bad enough to make these claims, she takes it to the next sick step and claims that he was gay and did some of his pilots!

Too bad somebody can't sue her for her remarks or at least have the site shut down.
Paul