Overview

Baron Manfred von Richthofen, Germany's renowned First World War flying ace, was known as 'The Red Knight' or more the war as 'The Red Baron' due to the colour of his Albatros aeroplane. He was attributed with eighty 'kills' before losing his life inaction in 1918. Written by a remarkable war correspondent, Floyd Gibbons, shortly after the cessation of hostilities, The Red Knight is a fascinating insight into the life of this most ruthless and talented war pilot. Gibbons had access to extensive first-hand sources including personal letters from von Richthofen to his mother. He also interviewed airmen who had survived aerial combat with the uncompromising von Richthofen, who wrote before his death, 'I have not found a happier hunting ground than the Battle of The Somme'. He is widely hailed as the 'greatest fighter pilot who has ever lived' - Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC

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9781739393243

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"""He is still widely hailed as the greatest fighter pilot who has ever lived."" ""Recommended reading for anyone interested in war and aviation history."" ""Floyd Gibbons' book stands out as a milestone in WW1 aviation history. Gibbons had the advantage of immediacy in his history of von Richthofen, as he was able to talk to the great ace's mother and read the letters home sent to her by her son."" ""Written in 1927, less than 10 years after Richthofen's death in World War, Floyd Gibbons gives an up close look, time-wise, at the former cavalryman and avid hunter who became World War I's ""Ace-of-Aces."" ""This book was outstanding. It held me spellbound all the way through it. The writer did a perfect job"""

Author Information

Floyd Gibbons was a noted war correspondent who wore a patch over the eye he lost while reporting on World War I in France. He died Sept. 24, 1939, of a heart attack. His death cut short plans to return to Europe to report on the outbreak of hostilities in World War II. He had roved the world as an ace reporter and was shipwrecked and wounded along the way. Gibbons first made a name for himself as a war correspondent when he reported Villa's raid on Columbus, N.M., in March 1916. He later accompanied Gen. John Pershing on his dash into Mexico on a punitive expedition. As an aftermath, he wrote a widely published series of articles disclosing poorly equipped state troops on the Mexican border. He became a London correspondent for the Chicago Tribune in 1917. As a passenger on the S.S. Laconia, which was torpedoed and sunk off the Irish coast the night of Feb. 25, 1917, Gibbons cabled a 4,000-word account of the disaster in which American lives were lost. He reported on World War I in France and lost his eye at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry. He was born in Washington, D.C., July 16, 1887. He attended Gonzaga College and Georgetown University. Gibbons began his newspaper work on the Minneapolis Daily News in 1907 and later worked on the Milwaukee Free Press and the Minneapolis Tribune. Gibbons also covered part of Italy's conquest of Ethiopia in 1932. He was stationed in Shanghai, from where he covered the beginning of the Japanese invasion of Manchukuo.

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