The Red Fighter Pilot

The Story of the Red Baron as Told by Manfred Von Richthofen Himself

By: Manfred Von Richthofen, J. Ellis Barker - translator

Narrated by: Paul Stefano

Length: 2 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Manfred von Richthofen (1892 - 1918), also widely known as the Legendary Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I. He is considered the ace of aces of that war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories, more than any other pilot. The Red Baron only wrote one book, his "autobiography", Der Rote Kampfflieger. This was written on the instructions of the German Army Press and Intelligence (i.e. propaganda) section of the German Army Air Service. This book was written just before he was killed, and it details his meteoric rise from a cavalryman to one of the most well-known fighter pilots of all time.

Public Domain (P)2016 Leon Cutajar

Interesting but not great

A cool story for those interested in this era of flying/warfare. Honestly he probably wasn't much of a writer and that combined with the translation makes just so so.

Really great to hear from the man himself

Very interesting and really provides insight into to this larger than life figure. Highly recommended for aviation and history buffs.

Compelling and Prescient

Richthofen presents a unique perspective of a warrior who is operating in a then nascent aspect of warfare. Although the reading of this intriguing biography lacks enunciation and is rather flat, the performance does not take away from the legendary tales or from the insightful thoughts Richthofen offers of conflict and aeronautic development.

Insights into the Red Baron

As a pilot, I found the thoughts and personal notes fascinating from the top fighter pilot and ace of World War 1 with 80 aircraft down. His background and how he got into the Imperial Army Aviation Corp was informative. He was an observer, on the Russians front and was flying, for almost a year, before learning how to fly. His time with the greatest pilot, of his time, Oswald Boelcke, and the influence he had on Rickthofen made him a better fighter pilot. Although a short book, it was an abbreviated auto biography and a must read for historians studying the air war between 1915-1917.

All in all an interesting book.

The book was written while the first world war was still going on. I believe the book would have been quite different if he had lived after the war had ended. I did enjoy the book and I find first hand accounts of events the most enlightening.

HORRIBLE NARRATION

The book is wonderful minus the narrator. I feel like I spent more time trying to decipher what the narrator was saying than actually listen to the story. He is sloppy and doesn’t fully enunciate words. He also talks very fast. I had to slow down the speed. Please get a better narrator!

The Red Fighter Pilot

This book offers a unique, first-hand account of the life of Von Richthofen.

The structure of the book is more like a diary and includes the events he valued most. Some of these events are grand battles, and others are more personal events that meant little in the grand scheme of WWI but that he valued nonetheless. There are multiple sections where he wrote at length about different airplanes and their abilities - his passion and excitement really showed in how he wrote these sections.

In many ways, this book reminds me that there was an actual human being behind the legend of the Red Barron.

Ice Water in the Veins

The written narrative by Richthofen is choppy and in some places disconnected--but what do you expect? He wasn't a writer and his superiors ordered him to put something down for use as propaganda. He chose to write about some personal memories of the war up to that time. It is odd to hear them in his own words. What strikes a reader/listener today is how matter-of-fact Richthofen was about death and dying. He was all fatalism devoid of emotion. One wonders how much was training and war experiences as opposed to personal attributes? The human-ness of who he was killing doesn't seem to have bothered him, nor are deaths of his own comrades related with any emotion. The autobiography by the great French ace, Rene Fonck, has some of these qualities, although Fonck was a vengeance killer while Richthofen was not. Shortly after publishing his book Richthofen was wounded in the head and survived. Worth listening to if you know who the Red Baron was.

Narration is rushed

Narration is rushed, no emotion, sounded robotic. Could have used more color. The story was interesting though.

Narration was rushed

The narrator needed to pause more at the end of each section and then after giving the title of the next section. It all ran together.