Evening star., 1925-11-22
MEN AND AFFAIRS
BY ROBERT T. SMALL.

The manner in which allied and
American aviators of the World War
Joined this past week in paying final
tribute to the famous German ace of
aces, Baron Won Richthofen, upon his
reburial In the fatherland, calls at
tention anew to the fact that virtually
all the chivalry of the world conflict
was confined to the flying services.
Perhaps the flyers alone had the OPP
portunity to be chivalrous. The rest
of the fighting was grim and desper-
ate, and seldom, If ever, was any quar-
ter asked or given. Most of the time
1t was more convenient and simple to
kill than to take prisoners.
The fighting men of the air liter
ally rose above the sordid bitterness
Of the ground struggles. There was
individual skill and daring in the bat
ties of the air. 1t was sort OF game,
and there was good sportsmanship on
both sides. Occasionally 1t was com
planned that the Germans were too
prone to hunt in overwhelming num-
bers. and would not engage in dog
fight" unless they held the upper
hand. But there was not much OF
this, and certainly it could be said OF
Baron Won Richthofen, that he was
always ready for a fight or a frolic.
He deliberately painted his boat
might know him. He was sort of
Robin Hood of the air.
The writer was at the western front
when Richthofen first brought his
flying circus" across the allied lines.
They were strange birds, indeed
harlequins-and the sensation they
caused never really got beyond the
zone OF the armies. The censors saw
to that. Up to that time all the fight
i~o bad Tla
shades. Richthofen's outfit was riot
of coIors His own red plane led the
pack. The others looked like "A crazy
quilt in the sky. For 81 long while
this German circus reigned in the air.
It's depredations were depressing at
times. 1t generally had the pick of
the best German planes, and more
than often these planes were just a
step ahead of the allies, bit faster,
a bit more flexible and bit more
accurate in shooting through the pro.
pellers.
R1chthofen finally was killed in q,
dog fight" over the desolate battle
| fields of the Somme where for miles
upon miles no two walls of house
remained intact. Most of the Somme
villages within the range of battle
were absolutely obliterated. For the
uninitiated in the ways of the air
a dog fight" was a sort OF general
melee, a kind of aerial Donnybrook
| Fair. In the early stages of the
war there were more individual com
bats. Later the dog fights became
more and more numerous as the fly
ing corps increased and the number
of planes aloft mounted from the
hundreds to the thousands. 1t was
give and take in a dog fight and
in the midst of one of these Richtho-
fen's scarlet plane was seen to fall
in flames. Almost at once the bat
tie ceased. When the body had been
recovered It was given burial by
the British with full military honors.
| Full details of the affair and pictures
Of the grave were dropped by allied
flyers over the German lines, ana
in due course of time were
acknowledged.
There was always exchanges OF
"courtesies" of the war between the
flying services. When Quentin
Roosevelt was shot down over the
German lines his father, Col. Roose-
welt. was frantic to get some word
of him. The International Red Cross
and neutral diplomats on duty in Ber-
lin were beseeched to make especial