Interessting facts: After he was shot down and died in the process, the Entente, his enemies, credited him with a ton of militarie honors as if he was one of their own. Also, he was not only a squadron leader, but an instructor for new pilots in the war too. In both positions, he always taught his fellow pilots, that they are not butchers but gentleman in the skies. He represented the "Honor in the skies" until his last breath. On of his teaching was: "If the enemy airplain goes down you will stop shooting at it and grand the pilot the chance to survive! We want to defeat our enemy, not annihilate them. We are gentleman, we are sportsman of the air, we are not butchers of men!

The thing that made Manfred special was that. In a time where major air powers maybe had a few hundred aircraft. He shot so many down. And also taught so many that would go on to do the same.

The pilots saw combat as an authentic battle of gentlemen As they said: We love shooting down planes, not killing people.

80 downed planes is actually considered very low by even authorities, but being the Gentleman soldier he would not count any kills that was not certified and confirmed. Many consider a closer estimate to his kills is well above the 110.

Another thing you would be interested to know is how Manfred von Richtofen was buried. He was shot down over enemy territory and yet his enemies treated him with respect and buried him as a hero. Officers carried his coffin including a few aces if i don't remember wrong. A bunch of people tore apart his plane to get souvenirs though....but the man himself was truly revered. I also seem to remember that he shot down a french (or was it a dutchman) and he landed beside his enemy and they made jokes about how the enemy pilot had written "here comes the destroyer" on his plane. Manfred also landed next to another downed enemy to do first aid on the man he had just shot down.

The beginning was indeed played on an organ. When they play the song live. They have an organ in a mini plane on stage.

Him and his squadron painted their planes in bright colors and crazy artistic paint jobs that they were nicknamed “The Flying Circus” , the Red Baron said he did this so that his enemy knew exactly who they were about to fight and those not up to the challenge would run away.

When the British eventually shot him down, his plane crashed in Alied territory. Because he was so respected by the British they gave him a full military funeral as a mark of respect. He remains the only enemy combatant to have ever been given a full military funeral. Ps I’m glad you are leaving the best till last….82nd all the way, The price of a mile.

The galloping rhythm is so fitting because the Baron was initially a cavalryman officer before working out that airpower will supersede horse warfare and transferring over.

The "Allies" isn't really a good term for WW1. The Allies was a term during WW2, they made up the UK and her colonies, France, USA, Soviet Union, etc. It's pretty much the same during WW1. But they weren't called "allies", but "Entente", made up of France, UK, Russian Empire, Italy, USA, etc. They mostly mean French and British pilots though I believe.

Since we're entering October, you got to check out these songs from Sabaton: Attack of the Dead Men. The Final Solution.

The intro was The Little Fugue in g minor by Johann Sebastian Bach who also composed the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, the organ tune you hear during holloween specials on tv

You mention galloping which is funny because Manfred originally joined a prussian cavalry regiment before transferring to the flying corps

The organ piece you mentioned is Toccata and Fugue in D minor by J.S. Bach.

Allies was the name of the alliance between Britain, france and America in the world wars. So he shot down 80 british, french or American soldiers out the sky

"Camouflaged ace" Bro could NOT be further away from reality than this, he literally flew a plane of bright red colour, he didn't even try to blend in he just went ahead and said "Step one, assert dominance, step two, win."

It's actually interesting to think that no single fighter pilot ever managed to kill him. It's believed that he died from a Australian machine gunner on the ground, who managed to shoot a bullet straight through his heart, instantly killing him.

“80 aircraft shot down? That’s got to still be the record.” Me: “I don’t know about that one chief”*looks over at Erich Hartmann’s 352 kills*

So many sabaton songs that i wanna recommend you Dave, besides those i have already said to you, i think the next one i wanna recommend would be, Counterstrike! :D

your commentary regarding the organ intro was on point because the "vampire music" you were describing is J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue and the intro of the song was also one of Bach's works called Little Fugue

Read tons of books on him as a kid. He was always a man of honor. WW1 pilots were originally spy planes and used for aerial surveillance. Planes would pass each other and wave because guns were not yet mounted on them. Some duels took place with pistols here and there. After guns were mounted aces would dog fight over territory and air space. But the Red Baron would never purposely kill a target if they were damaged enough to crash. He would watch them and make sure they landed safely. He has landed next to some to give first aide to another ace that was a well known rival of his. It wasn't for the kills but the act of just defeating another ace in a aerial duel. Because of this way of handling himself in the air and his honor, he was given full militarily honors by the Entente (allies) and walked in a procession across the border back to his land after his death. He was very well respected

I feel that they used the word "Allies" to make him seem even more like an "enemy" kinda character, to drive home the fact that this guy is someone that you would never want to go up against but if you did, you damn well respect him! Same reason they say "He's flying too fast (again) and flying too high", the song is just from a perspective of an awestruck enemy that can't help to be impressed. As you mentioned, the way they play the keyboard/organ as if he was a villain from a monster movie also drives home this fact.

Dude, when Snoopy goes to war with his flying doghouse he is fighting (and losing to) the Red Baron. He is also the mascot for Red Baron frozen pizza.

He painted his plane red so all the enemies knew who they were up against....badass fear tactics!

Hello Dave, keep the fun reactions comming. One of their songs I recommend you check out both in terms of the song and the history behind it is "Attack of the dead men". It's one of my personal top. For a quick summary, it basically explores the counter attack of a small platoon of 100 men against a force of 7000 thousand, this counter attack being carried out as many of their comrades fell to poison gas deployed by the larger force. And for some extra context, it's a even that took place in the eastern front with the attackers being the Germans and the "dead men" being the Russians.

The way you bob up and down is EXACTLY how I move when I listen to this song while doing DoorDash / UberEATS deliveries! And yes, between ERB and Sabaton, I've also felt like I've learned quite a bit that I didn't retain back in the old grade school days.

I love how you do some research before listening to the songs. It gives not only the viewer but yourself some insight and historical knowledge. Keep it up (: Btw, what the song means by ”80 allies payed the price” is the ”allied side” meaning the US, England and France etc. (The Red Baron was german aka one of the axis powers).

Most people think Richthofen was shot down by a plane. The leathal shell was indeed a MG shell from the ground. There is a controversy but the only person who shot the plane in the right angle was Cedric Popkin an Australian Imperial Force soldier.

Another solid song and story given new life by Sabaton, White death would be a great one to listen to next if you want another story of a soldier perfecting their craft and skill.

Sir, your reverence for the history and the knowledge of these events is just amazing. Add on your facial expressions and this is pure gold. Keep it up. If you have not, at this point, Dave, The Lost Batallion...promise it get you in the feels and grips you and never lets go.

I believe you are referring to Bach's "Fugue in D minor" when you talked about the intro. Never thought of it that way! Also, when they say he shot down "allies" they mean the allied forces, as he was a German pilot. :)

"80 Allies? Who was he fighting against? Maybe it was target practice." Belly laughing here man

in WW2 there were a lot of pilots who got well over 100 aerial victories. The highest count is 362 by Erich Hartmann who served in the Luftwaffe and survived 10 years as a Soviet prisoner before returning home to West Germany

over 100 years ago, and he is still remembered as the greatest flying ace

I'm glad you found Sabaton! There's so many more great songs and videos. "Uprising" is highly recommended! Great content dude!

Vampire actually sounding intro, don't you think? Aircraft was no where close to what we have today. Planes were little more than canvas, wood, and a bit of metal and gas. You needed to have 2 great arms.and 2 great legs to fly those planes. He was the Ace of Aces.

If you haven't heard of it before, Sabaton did a cover of Camouflage. I think comparing the cover to the original would be interesting.

Hey Dude... I love my history! Thanks for covering this bro... Subscribed!!

Snoopy kept the legend alive, pretending he was a ace in world war one sitting on top of his doghouse and guess who was his nemesis in the skies?

Fun fact, Star Wars also has their own version of Manfred von Richtofen called Soontir Fel who is pretty much like the Red Baron. Basically The Red Baron's legendary status reaches even into a sci-fi franchise such as Star Wars.

One of the big things about WW1 is that there were aristocrat (Dukes, Earls, Lords, etc) families that before the war were very close friends but during the war were on different sides and forced to fight. Many pilots of WW1 were from these families and many planes had their family crest/coat of arms painted on the side.

One of the best books I read on the man was called "Who Killed the Red Baron", its buried somewhere in my office and has been out of print for forty years atleast.

Jocke loves the hammond organ, if I remember correctly it is the first instrument he learned by playing in church as a kid!

I was waiting for this reaction

Something else interesting: when Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen was told that painting his plane red would remove the element of surprise, he stated " I don't want them to be surprised, I want them to be afraid".

THE RED BARON!!! :D Now, he was killed by a ground crew & even the pilot who was originally given the kill said something about that. Also there was another German pilot who was much better then the Baron, and could do things with that Tri-plane that the Baron could only dream of. This same pilot was in a 6 to 1 dogfight and although he was killed, he hit ALL six of those planes. I believe it was Werner Voss. infact: "Richthofen himself considered Voss as the only pilot with the potential to exceed Richthofen's aerial victory score. " The Baron himself, thought Voss could over-take his kills.

If you're looking for easy research for the videos, Sabaton History tends to have matching videos where they talk more in depth about the topics in the songs with Indie, or many of them also have in depth videos on the World War 1 channel where Indie did a real time retelling of WW1. He's got specials on many of the items from that war, such as this man, the poison gas from Attack of the Dead Men, and so on. Easier to do on yourself since somebody's done the work for you. :)

In anime, the character Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam was directly influenced and inspired by the legend of the Red Baron, so much so that his mobile suits were painted a brilliant red and he was referred to as the “Red Comet” due to the machines being about 33% faster and had 3 times the reaction speed of normal machines of the same class (source materials vary on those stats). Since the original Gundam was very much directly referencing both world wars in the atrocities committed in the wars, Char fills the role of Manfred von Richthofen both in his noble and courteous nature, even when talking with enemies on neutral territory (like when he met his rival, the protagonist Amuro Ray), and his lethal skill in battle. And because of this, I REALLY want a nerdcore song about Char done by someone like FabvL or Divide, who I think could bring out the Red Baron references well

“To our valiant and worthy foe” -ANZACS and the commonwealth

The intro is Fugue in G Minor by Bach, and the one you were thinking of was Tocatta and Fugue in D minor, by the same composer, both appropriate for "Baron" Manfred von Richtofen.

Phantom of the Opera sir, for the intro. and I just wanted to say that your smile is infectious, so thank you.

10Y ago in my school we played who is afraid of the red baron or here comes the red baron and we were 8-9 and i was 10 legends truly never die.

Dave I love your channel so much! You explain things about music that I miss completely. I didn't even realize how they introduce the organ to this song until you said something about it. Now I'm going to have to go back and start paying attention! I guess you can teach a real old dog new tricks. Keep up the good work, thanks bro!

Love the circus sounding music in the beginning referencing his units namesake the flying circus

when they say '80 allies paid the price' they mean the entente powers which as sometimes refereed to as the allied powers (the entente consisted of the main powers the UK, France ,USA, Russia, Japan and Italy while the red baron flew for the central powers whos main members were Germany , Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans)

im loving your reactions to the sabaton songs! cant wait for the next. Do "Devil Dogs" next :D

the flying circus painted their planes bright colors to let the Germans know they were above them and to not be afraid also to let the allies know they were in the air "come at me bro"

Ah… my first introduction to Sabaton. Nostalgia. Now that I think bout it, it was also the song I used for my first amv mix. xD

Manfreds story can be split in two parts before and after his injury. After taking a head wound during combat. His personality shifted drastically. Looking back with our knowledge of head tramua and the symptoms he was exhibiting. Its clear after the injury he was possibly suffering from face blindness an inability to recognise people as people. While a french pilot is histroically credited for shooting him down re examination of the bullet marks on his craft suggests that he was already dying from ground fire. Bullet traces believed to have come from the french pilot all missed the cockpit while a pair of bullet holes penerated from below the craft and into where his lungs would have been. This is further affirmed by how the plane was already on a slow controled desecent when the french ace opened fire and didnt make any evasive maneuvers

A solid good reaction as always.

'Eye for an Eye' was for the fact that he always made sure he killed an Allied fighter for every one of his wingmen that got slain. He always made sure to enact revenge for his less experienced wingmen.

The intro to this song is actually from a composition by Bach with the name "Little fugue in g minor"

Nice analysis!

Allies was the term in both World Wars used for western countries like France, England & USA. So he didn't shoot his allies, but "Red Baron's" enemies mainly france&english planes.

The intro to the song is actually an interesting easter egg. The intro is meant to sound like a circus performance, because the squadron of the Red Baron was nicknamed “The Flying Circus”.

Oh this one is a great one too! This is on my daily rotation actually. Still waiting on my Shiroyama or To Hell and Back videos though!

Allies refers to the Entente, consisting of Britian, France, the US, etc The Baron's kill count is almost certainly higher than 80, but he refused to have any non-confirmed kills counted towards his total

80 shot downs is rare but not unmatched. In fact, in WW2 there were German aces with 400+ victories. However, he was probably the best fighter pilot of WW1.

There are so many crazy stories of what the WW1 pilots did, remember that parachutes didn’t really exist and these planes were basically just wood, ropes, and canvas. There is one story of a pilot that passed out while doing a loop when he was upside down at the top of the loop, fell out of the plane, came to while falling, and the plane completed the loop and he landed back in it. Another was a game called balloon bursting where they would destroy blimps which were used as like command centers in the sky to view the battlefield. You would think these would be easy for planes to shoot down but they had their own gunners and they had dozens of kites that flew in the sky and were attached to the blimp by steel cables. This was so that if a plane did get close enough it would get shredded to pieces if it hit the cables. One pilot tho fir the allies was amazing at killing blimps and it made the Germans so upset that they decided to set a trap where they would fill a blimp with tons of explosives so when he shot the thing it would explode and kill him. They were so excited about their trap tho that they started to tell others about it and eventually the plot reached the pilot who said, if they are going thru all this trouble to kill me I might as well go check it out. So the day the blimp was to be raised he flew to where it was and saw a lot of German officials and troops raising the blimp into the sky but at this point it was only halfway from the ground and he decided “screw it” and drove down shooting at the blimp. The blimp then exploded and since it was still so close to the ground it killed a majority of the Germans who had set the trap. For the pilot however the blast actually launched his plane high into the sky but he was able to recover and survived the explosion.

Nice commentary, especially your notes about the beginning sounding like a horror film, where the bad guys are coming. Yes, young people today might not know of him. But at your grocery store in the freezer section you can probably find Red Baron Pizza. And if you look on KZfaq for Snoopy and the Red Baron, that's what a lot of us watched on tv for Charlie Brown Specials, with the Peanuts gang. (Strange that Charlie Brown is also the name of the WW2 pilot saved in No Bullets Fly by Franz Stigler.). If you ever get to the Somme Battlefield, that's where the Red Baron was shot down.

There is a twisted reality to mention that the man in question of this was a Humanitarian at heart, he was ruthless in combat however if you couldnt fight then he wouldnt enguage you out of chivalry. He also accepted prisoners by forcing them to land at German occupied Airfields. He was originally trained as a Cavilry officer, however he knew Horses were rarely gonig to be useful in the Trench scenario he saw unfolding, and he joined up with the Air Power in its military infantsy. He was part of an observer gunner position where he sat on the front of a aircraft and fired a machinegun from a turret as that was deemed the most practical after they realised machinegun fire would cut off propellers (till later tech was introduced). Its stated that kills were spread based on teams and who was involved with the down. There wasnt video footage attached to track kills so people used to paint there aircraft so they could identify who scored what. Its beleived that he took down more aircraft, but because he was with others he shared the credit for reasons unknown and gave his men under his command honors and commendations, he might have rolled much higher on the kill count then he took credit for. Most of his kills were taken in a Bi-plane which isnt shown in this, he flew very few sorties with the Tri-plane and openly hated the slow, lumbering problems of the tri-plane as the Allied powers started getting faster and better equipment. The man himself set the standard for aviation rules of war: Never shoot at defenseless pilots, never shoot down a parachute (rarely seen in WW1, but some did happen to have parachutes), and try to force enemy to surrender if its possible to save life. This code was paramount in WW2, many German, British, American, French, Italian, and Russian pilots didnt fire on parachuting pilots as a rule. Many pilots recall situations where untold heroic actions were taken under chivalrus code: No Bullets Fly was a grand example story, however there was other examples as well. Durring WW2 there was a P-47 pilot who had to watch his friend and wingman get downed and over the pacific he was gunned down in cold blood by an enemy pilot. He had the chance to do the same to a enemy pilot later from the same nation, he slowed down and threw the downed pilot his life vest and some food and water rations to help him survive till rescue. Knowing full well that it was dangerous, and he was correct to note this as 4 people tried to smoke him but he kicked the engine into overdrive and sped away from the 4 enemy fighters. The man was given medals and his petitions for which he passed away before it was realised, but its considered a full bore rule in all the world!: Its a warcrime to shoot a pilot who is parachuting as they are entirely defenseless. Honors were given to downed pilots in many conflicts by both factions.

in "80 allies paid the price" allies refer to allied forces meaning those who fought against germany(france, england, etc.)

If you want another legend, search up the crew of the B17 “Old 666”

ALSO! The intro to this song is the "Little" Fugue in G Minor by Bach

You likely already discovered, as this is a year out, but I'm only now discovering your channel. The Red Baron was a German pilot who flew against the Allied Nations with 80 confirmed victories against the Allies.

funny thing also about red baron he used tactic where he often used as useing smoke and driving down as pretending he got shot down and then came back behind enemy, or he used another tactic what he used to shoot down "reaper" coming from high unexpected.

After he got hit he still managed to land. Then Allied soldiers rushed his plane to look. Manfred von Richthofen looked to them and said "kaputt" (broken) then he closed his eyes and died.

yeeeey

One of the first to land a plane without sight

The Allies are the name given to the forces rising against Germany. The Red Baron Von Richthoffen was a German ace. He shot down 80 Allies planes.

While the Red Baron had 80 confirmed kills, not only do historians think it was more then that, but he never actually killed anybody, he would shot out the wings and force them to land, taking them out of the fight and giving him a 'kill'.

80 planes shot down might not be the highest number, But he was only 25 when he was shot down and killed. He was only in the air for 2 years.

First song I heard from Sabaton.

@WhatItDoDave the highest scoring ace of all time was Erich Hartmann with 352 victories.

Ya people were strugglin’ with the wheel vine swinger.

One of the most under rated (and under reacted to) songs by Sabaton would be The Last Battle. It is one of the most fascinating stories to come out of World War 2 and I think you'd enjoy it

your comparison of the Song with a horse ride is pretty good, since Manfred von Richthofen started his military career as a Cavalry Officer

The phrase "80 Allies" refers to pilots of the Allied Nations, which was namely Fance, Britain, and the US. He was German, a Central Power country (long before Nazis existed). At a time when a country's air force usually only had a couple hundred fighter planes and you have to manually get in behind the dude without missiles, 80 over a campaign and 4 in one day is insane.

The organ song you were thinking of is Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach

Sabaton is the only History Metal band in existence. Iron Maiden kind of touches on certain events in history sometimes, but only Sabaton goes in-depth with their songs. The "80 Allies paid the price" line was about the French and British pilots that von Richtoffen shot down.

That intro song is the Little Fugue in g minor by Bach

The Baron painted his plane red to set himself apart. Enemy pilots would be so eager to shoot down the Red Baron that they would focus on him, and then the Baron's men would be free to wreck shop. It was a big "Come At Me Bro." Totally badass. But then the other pilots in his squadron started painting THEIR planes bright colors too. All the colors, along with all the flying tricks he taught his men, earned them the nickname "Van Richtoffen's Flying Circus." The Baron's brother Lothar painted his plane bright yellow, and was the second deadliest pilot in WWI. Imagine shooting down more planes than anyone else... except your brother!

80 is not unheard of anymore. Erich Hartmann, a german ace who mainly fought on the eastern front during WW2 and is acredited with 352 aerial kills (350 soviet and 2 american). You don't hear as much of him compared to the Red Baron though. The two main reasons in my opinion is that the Red Baron died while at the peak of his fame, as he was shot down in 1918, and also WW2 was alot more industrialised and less romanticised than WW1, since during the Red Barons time warfare still had traces of "nobility" from earlier. Also he was honoured by the British and the French in WW1, while the Soviets in WW2 had no interest in making a German soldier into a recognised hero

What it Do Dave? Cook yourself a Red Baron pizza tonight to keep the legend going!

What they mean by 80 Allies paid the price is that he shot down 80 enemies. Britain and her allies were referred to as the allies and the Germany and her Allie’s were called the Axis. I might be a bit late to this

I want to see a vampire series based on this man even his name would work as a vampire lol.

I havn't finished the video yet but wanted to explain the intro. His squadron was known as the flying circus because their brightly colored planes were transported by train to different fronts during the war and it looked like the circus coming to town. The intro was similar to calliope music which you would hear in a circus.

The red baron was a german pilot who shot down 80 planes of the allies (consisting of britan, france and russia)

He didn't shoot down HIS allies, he shot down THE Allies. He was an Axis pilot.

Not to pester you again, but the KnightSGCArchive video for this song is triple cheffs kiss in my opinion