Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, known in English as Baron von Richthofen or the Red Baron, was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.
Lothar Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen was a German First World War fighter ace credited with 40 victories. He was a younger brother of top-scoring ace Manfred von Richthofen and a distant cousin of Luftwaffe Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen.
Erich Loewenhardt was a German soldier and military aviator who fought in the First World War and became a fighter ace credited with 54 confirmed aerial victories. Originally enlisting in an infantry regiment even though he was only 17, he fought in the Battle of Tannenberg, winning a battlefield commission on 2 October 1914. He would serve in the Carpathians and on the Italian Front before being medically discharged in mid-1915. Following a five month recuperation, Loewenhardt joined the Imperial German Air Service in 1916. After serving as an aerial observer and reconnaissance pilot, he underwent advanced training to become a fighter pilot with Jagdstaffel 10 in March 1917. Between 24 March 1917 and 10 August 1918, Loewenhardt shot down 45 enemy airplanes, as well as destroying nine observation balloons. Shortly after his final victory, he was killed in a collision with another German pilot.
LeutnantKarl Allmenröder was a German World War I flying ace credited with 30 aerial victories. The medical student son of a preacher father was seasoned in the trenches as an 18-year-old artilleryman in the early days of the First World War, earning promotion via battlefield commission to Leutnant on 30 March 1915. After transferring to aviation and serving some time as an artillery spotter in two-seater reconnaissance airplanes, he transferred to flying fighter aircraft with Jagdstaffel 11 in November 1916. As Manfred von Richthofen's protege, Karl Allmenröder scored the first of his 30 confirmed victories on 16 February 1917. Flying a scarlet Albatros D.III trimmed out with white nose and elevators, Allmenröder would score a constant string of aerial victories until 26 June 1917, the day before his death. On 27 June 1917, Karl Allmenröder fell to his death near Zillebeke, Belgium. His posthumous legacy of patriotic courage would later be abused as propaganda by the Nazis.
JagdgeschwaderI of World War I, was a fighter wing of the German Luftstreitkräfte, comprising four Jastas. The first unit of its type formed under that classification, JG I was formed on 24 June 1917, with Manfred von Richthofen as commanding officer, by combining Jastas 4, 6, 10 and 11. JG I became known as "The Flying Circus" or "Richthofen's Circus" because of the bright colours of its aircraft, and perhaps also because of the way the unit was transferred from one area of Allied air activity to another – moving like a travelling circus in trains, and frequently setting up in tents on improvised airfields.
OberleutnantKurt Robert Wilhelm Wolff PlM was one of Imperial Germany's highest-scoring fighter aces during World War I. The frail youthful orphan originally piloted bombers before being picked by Manfred von Richthofen to join Jagdstaffel 11 in the burgeoning Imperial German Air Service. Under the tutelage of Richthofen, Wolff would shoot down 33 enemy aircraft in four months, including 22 victims during the Royal Flying Corps' disastrous Bloody April, 1917. Wolff scored victories so rapidly he outran the Prussian awards system; although the Pour le Merite was customarily awarded after a fighter ace's 20th victory, Wolff's was not received until after his 29th.
A Jagdstaffel was a fighter Staffel (squadron) of the German Imperial Luftstreitkräfte during World War I.
Jasta 2 was one of the best-known German Luftstreitkräfte Squadrons in World War I. Its first commanding officer was the great aerial tactician Oswald Boelcke, and it was the incubator of several notable aviation careers.
Leutnant Kurt Wüsthoff was a German fighter ace credited with 27 listed confirmed victories during World War I. Enlisting prewar at age 16 1/2, after learning to fly during the events leading to the war's start, he was posted as a flight instructor until adjudged old enough for combat. He then flew two-seater reconnaissance craft for a year and a half during 1916 and 1917 before training as a fighter pilot in June 1917. Assigned to Jagdstaffel 4, he shot down 24 enemy airplanes and three observation balloons between 15 June 1917 and 10 March 1918. Promoted to command of his squadron on 10 January 1918, he proved immature and plagued by combat stress reaction. Relieved of his post on 16 March 1918 by Manfred von Richthofen, he returned to combat duty with Jagdstaffel 15 in June, only to be shot down and captured on the 17th. He survived the war and a long convalescence, only to die after crashing while performing aerobatics on 18 July 1926. He died of his injuries five days later.
Oberleutnant Eduard Ritter von DostlerPlM, MOMJ was a German World War I fighter ace credited with 26 victories. On three consecutive assignments during World War I, Dostler was entrusted with the combat leadership of German jagdstaffeln.
LeutnantHans Weiss was a German World War I flying ace credited with 16 aerial victories.
Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 18 was a "hunting squadron" of the Luftstreitkräfte, the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I.
Ernst Freiherr von Althaus was a German flying ace in World War I, credited with nine confirmed aerial victories, as well as eight unconfirmed ones. He was one of the original Fokker Eindekker pilots who became known collectively as the Fokker Scourge.
Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 15, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 15, was a "hunting group" of the Luftstreitkräfte, the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The unit would score over 150 aerial victories during the war, at the expense of seven killed in action, two killed in flying accidents, three wounded in action, one injured in a flying accident, and two taken prisoner of war.
Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 4, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 4, was a "hunting group" of the Luftstreitkräfte, the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The unit would score 192 confirmed victories; in turn, it would suffer 11 killed in action, 9 wounded in action, and two taken prisoner of war. It was one of the units in the famed Flying Circus.
Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 6 was one of the original units of the Luftstreitkräfte, the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I.
Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 20 was a fighter squadron of the Luftstreitkräfte, the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I.
Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 12 was a World War I "hunting group" of the Luftstreitkräfte, the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. As one of the original German fighter squadrons, the unit would score 155 aerial victories during the war, at the expense of seventeen killed in action, eight wounded in action, and one taken prisoner of war.
Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 29, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 29, was a "hunting group" of the Luftstreitkräfte, the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The squadron would score 76 aerial victories during the war, at the cost of 13 of their pilots killed in action, two killed in flying accidents, 12 wounded in action, one injured in a flying accident and one taken prisoner.
Jagdgeschwader II was the Imperial German Air Service's second fighter wing. Established because of the great success of Manfred von Richthofen's preceding Jagdgeschwader I wing, Jagdgeschwader II and Jagdgeschwader III were founded on 2 February 1918. JG II was assigned four squadrons nominally equipped with 14 aircraft each. The new wing was supposed to be fully operational in time for an offensive slated for 21 March 1918. Named to raise and lead it was 23-victory flying ace Hauptmann Adolf von Tutschek. However, he was killed in action on 15 March 1918.
German Empire 
![Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen [Center top in Albatros D.III cockpit] and Jasta 11 personnel: Standing From left to right: unknown (Leutnant Karl Allmenroeder?); Hans Hintsch; Vizfeldwebel Sebastian Festner; Leutnant Karl Emil Schaefer; Oberleutnant Kurt Wolff; Georg Simon; Leutnant Otto Brauneck. Seated Left to right: Esser; Krefft; in foreground Leutnant Lothar von Richthofen. Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2004-0430-501, Jagdstaffel 11, Manfred v. Richthofen.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2004-0430-501%2C_Jagdstaffel_11%2C_Manfred_v._Richthofen.jpg/220px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2004-0430-501%2C_Jagdstaffel_11%2C_Manfred_v._Richthofen.jpg)
