Lothar von Richthofen

Oberleutnant Lothar von Richthofen
Lothar von Richthofen wearing the Pour le Mérite in 1917
Birth name	Lothar Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen
Born	(1894-09-27)27 September 1894 Kleinburg, Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland)
Died	4 July 1922(1922-07-04) (aged 27) Hamburg, Germany
Place of burial	South Cemetery, Wiesbaden 50°03′37″N 8°15′57″E / 50.060260°N 8.265810°E / 50.060260; 8.265810
Allegiance	German Empire
Service / branch	Prussian Army (1914–1915) German Air Force (1915–1918)
Years of service	1914–1918
Rank	Oberleutnant
Unit	4th Dragoon Regiment Battle Squadron No. 23 Fighter Squadron No. 11
Awards	Pour le Mérite, Iron Cross First and Second Class
Relations	Manfred von Richthofen (brother), Wolfram von Richthofen (cousin)

Lothar Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen (27 September 1894 – 4 July 1922) was a German

He died aged 27 on 4 July 1922 in a flying accident at Fuhlsbüttel.

Richthofen was born on 27 September 1894. He and his brothers, Manfred and Bolko,^{[1][note 1]} hunted wild boar, elk, birds, and deer.^[2]

Like his brother Manfred, Lothar began the war as a cavalry officer with the 4th Dragoon Regiment. He had remained in the public Gymnasium (high school), he was enrolled in compulsory military training at the Kriegsschule in Danzig (Gdańsk, Poland) when war began. On his own initiative Lothar returned to his unit. Lothar was nearly cut down by sniper fire while on patrol. In mid-October 1914, while stationed at Attigny, he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for valour. It was the only decoration that Lothar received during his cavalry service. The following month, his regiment was transferred to the Eastern Front.^[3]

In February 1915 Manfred "rescued" his brother Lothar from the boredom of training new troops in Luben and encouraged him to also transfer to the Fliegertruppe.^[4]

Richthofen joined the

His first posting as a pilot was to his brother's

Taking part in the period of German dominance called Bloody April by the British, Lothar had won 15 more victories by the beginning of May. When his brother went on leave, Lothar von Richthofen assumed command of the squadron.^[8]

During the first week of May 1917, Lothar von Richthofen scored three more victories. On the evening of 7 May near

Richthofen posted a claim for shooting down the Sopwith Triplane. However, the propaganda value of Ball's death under the guns of a German pilot was obvious, and the German High Command awarded a victory over Ball to Lothar. The fallacy of the award was readily apparent. The idea that an experienced pilot such as Richthofen would confuse a triplane with a biplane was ludicrous. Leutnant Hailer, a German pilot on the ground who witnessed the crash and was the first German at the crash scene saw no battle damage to Ball's plane. The doctor who autopsied Ball reported massive injuries to Ball from the crash, but no bullet wounds. Nevertheless, the official line was that Lothar von Richthofen shot down Albert Ball.^[9] Later research suggests that Ball became disoriented by vertigo, accidentally entering an inverted dive which choked his plane's carburetor and stopped the engine, causing him to crash.^[10]

Richthofen raised his total to 24 by 13 May, when, after shooting down a

Returning to his unit in February, he claimed 3 Bristol Fighter F2.Bs on 11 and 12 March, before he was again forced down on 13 March by a Sopwith Camel flown by Captain Augustus Orlebar of No. 73 Squadron. Nursing his crippled Fokker Dr1 Triplane into a landing, Richthofen clipped a high-tension wire and crashed heavily, suffering serious head injuries. He was still recovering when he learned of his brother's death.^{[citation needed]}

Lothar returned to service with Jasta 11 in July 1918. He scored his final victory (a DH-9a) on 12 August 1918, flying a Fokker D.VII. The next day he was again wounded in action against Sopwith Camels, probably by Captain Field E. Kindley of the 148th Aero Squadron USAS.^[11] Lothar may also have been forced down by Canadian RAF pilot William Stephenson, later known as the World War II spymaster code-named "Intrepid".^[12] Lothar was promoted to Oberleutnant, and saw no further combat before the war ended in November.^{[citation needed]}

Considering the amount of time Lothar von Richthofen spent on the front and in hospitals, he was one of the most combat efficient and prolific flying aces of the war, perhaps even more so than his brother Manfred. Of his total of 40 confirmed victories, Lothar scored 33 in just three months: 15 in April 1917, 8 in May 1917, and 10 in August 1918.^{[citation needed]}

With the return of peace, Lothar von Richthofen worked briefly on a farm before accepting an industrial position. He married Countess Doris von Keyserlingk in Cammerau in June 1919, fathering a daughter, Carmen Viola (1920–1971), and a son, Wolf-Manfred (1922–2010), before the marriage was dissolved. He then became a commercial pilot, carrying passengers and mail between Berlin and Hamburg.^{[citation needed]}

On 4 July, 1922 Richthofen died in a crash of his LVG C VI at Hamburg due to an engine failure. Also on board were actress Fern Andra and her director Georg Bluen. Both Bluen and Andra survived, Andra spending a year recovering from her injuries.^{[citation needed]}

Lothar von Richthofen was interred next to his father at the Garrison Cemetery in Schweidnitz, but the cemetery was levelled by the Poles when the city was transferred to Poland after World War II. Today the area is a football field, although von Richthofen's headstone still exists.^{[citation needed]}

A plaque to Lothar's memory is next to his brother Manfred von Richthofen's grave on the Südfriedhof in Wiesbaden.^{[citation needed]}