Richthofen became known as ‘the Tartar’ for combining cold-blooded ruthlessness with ingenuity in directing operations

April 21, 1918, remains one of the best-known days in aviation history. It was the day that the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, the top ace of World War I, was shot down and killed after leading the fighter wing he commanded into combat. By coincidence, it was also the first time in aerial combat for his younger cousin, Baron Wolfram von Richthofen, who had recently been assigned to the same fighter wing, the famous Jagdgeschwader I.

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Manfred’s deadly dogfight over northern France that day is probably the most famous single battle in the history of air warfare. The Red Baron has long been regarded as a fascinating and romantic figure, with his exploits featured in dozens of books and several films. Yet it was the lesser-known Richthofen, who barely survived his first day in combat, who would go on to have the far greater impact on aerial warfare.

The contrast between the two is striking. Manfred von Richthofen is viewed by many as a throwback to an older form of individualistic warfare, someone who fought as a “knight of the air.” His cousin, on the other hand, represented a new breed of technocrat warrior. Armed with a Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering, Wolfram von Richthofen was behind the development and manufacture of many of the aircraft that equipped the Luftwaffe in World War II. As a commander on several fronts, from Spain to Poland to Russia, he played a leading role in shaping modern tactical air power and making it a decisive force on the battlefield. First in Poland in 1939 and then in France in 1940 he inserted the Luftwaffe into the German blitzkrieg tactics that astonished the world. One of Hitler’s favorite generals, Richthofen was made a field marshal in 1943 at the relatively youthful age of forty-seven. No less an authority than Field Marshal Erich von Manstein deemed him “the most outstanding air force leader we had in World War II.”

Wolfram von Richthofen hailed from a large clan of landed aristocracy that settled in Upper Silesia, today part of Poland. Like many Richthofens before him—including his cousin Manfred—he chose the army as a career. Shortly before his nineteenth birthday in 1914, Wolfram was commissioned into a Prussian cavalry regiment, the 4th Silesian Hussars. He led a platoon into combat in August 1914, where his cool display of leadership under fire in the war’s first battles earned him an Iron Cross. In the fall, his cavalry regiment moved to the eastern front, where he saw considerable action through 1915. But as the war settled into the trenches, there was little for the cavalry to do. For an ambitious officer hoping to make his mark, it was an unbearable situation.

Manfred von Richthofen and his brother Lothar had abandoned the cavalry by this time, transferring to the Imperial Air Service in 1915. In 1917, Wolfram followed his cousins’ example, showing enough aptitude to be selected for the fighter arm. He arrived at his famous cousin’s wing in early April 1918. Lucky to survive the dogfight that killed Manfred, Wolfram went on to demonstrate the Richthofen killer instinct by shooting down eight Allied planes.

Richthofen hoped to stay with the air force after the war’s end, but the Treaty of Versailles abolished it and reduced the army to a small, 100,000-man force. So he left the army and earned a degree in aeronautical engineering at the Technical University of Hanover, one of Germany’s top engineering schools.

The German army after World War I was led by visionary general Hans von Seeckt, who turned the small army allowed by the Versailles treaty into an elite cadre to serve as a foundation for a large and modern force. Because he believed that air power would play a central role in future wars, von Seeckt ensured that a small, secret air force was camouflaged within the army. He also insisted that Reichswehr officers master the new technologies of war and established a program to send officers to earn engineering degrees in preparation for joining the army’s general staff. As a flier, qualified engineer, and decorated combat veteran, Wolfram von Richthofen was an ideal candidate to join the secret air staff. He was invited to rejoin the army in 1924 after completing his studies.

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