This on-line edition of Manfred von Richthofen's 1917 book Der Rote Kampfflieger is based on the English language version originally translated by J. Ellis Barker and published in 1918 under the name The Red Battle Flyer.

The book was published while World War One still raged and suffered somewhat from the propaganda and censorship of the time. Unfortunately Captain von Richthofen – famously known as The Red Baron – did not survive the war, and so this is the only work of its kind directly attributable to him. His own opinion of the book was that it was too insolent, and before his death he wrote that he was no longer that type of person.

The original 1918 English edition preface is also interesting. It reveals much about attitudes which had changed little during four bloody years of war. The concept of honorable death at the hands of a "worthy" opponent was still very strong, even toward the end of the war.

Richthofen: The Red Fighter Pilot

Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12-1
Chapter 12-2
Chapter 13-1
Chapter 13-2