What would it be like to be a British WW1 pilot knowing that you might face the greatest living pilot, Manfred Von Richthofen, The Red Baron?
Imagine that you are one of these people:
1. A Fighter Pilot: Your are a British pilot and your plane is a Sopwith Camel. This plane is as good as, if not better than the Germans Fokker fighter plane. You fly every day against enemy fighters. Your aircraft can fly at a top speed of 115mph and soldiers on the battlefield shoot at you as you fly overhead. Will you make it through another day? What will happen if you spot the famous and fearsome Red Baron? Will you survive to tell the tale?
Write a blog entry to tell us all about it. We want to know what happened and how you managed to survive your encounter.
The Red Baron (Baron Manfred Von Richtofen) takes to the skies in his famous Fokker DR1 Triplane (video source: Archive.org).
2. Ground Crew. Every day you repair aircraft for the pilots that you may never see again. You do your best to make the planes safe to fly even though they are battered and worn out after many aerial battles. You often work all night to repair them so that the pilot can take to the skies again. You help the pilot get into the plane and strap him in. There is no parachute. What do you say to him? Will the Red Baron be waiting? How do you feel while you are waiting for the plane to return?
Write a blog entry to describe what happens as you prepare the aircraft and then wait to see if it returns.
The Red Baron did not survive the war. He was shot down on 21st April, 1918 over the Morlancourt Ridge, France. The video above shows soldiers inspecting the wreckage of his aircraft (video source: archive.org).