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...his life and death. Mostly, historians are searching for an answer as to why such skilled and seemingly invincible maverick of the sky put himself in the nearly suicidal position of chasing a low-flying adversary and being exposed to enemy ground fire. This article will argue that Baron von Richthofen, although injured, was not incapable or even gravely threatened on his fatal flight and that personality traits, including his determination for individual recognition, reveal a character that felt the need to sacrifice everything, including safety, to be the best ace of all time.
Duties Not Including Flying (DNIF)
In 2004, Thomas Hyatt and Daniel Orme published an article with the theory that Manfred von Richthofen's head injury on July 6, 1917 debilitated his brain functions so greatly that it effected his piloting ability and led to his death under circumstances that the master ace would not normally be in. Hyatt and Orme's article, "Baron Manfred von Richthofen--DNIF (Duties Not Including Flying)" gained international attention as it used theories of modern neuroscience to shed light on a famous question from the past. The article, because of its notoriety and fascinating subject matter, deserves a closer examination. Although the article was visionary because of its use of cutting edge science, the theory ultimately failed as it rested on imprecise data and the fact that von Richthofen's wound did not seem to diminish his functioning until April 21, 1918, von Richthofen's last.
The head wound
As was mentioned, Baron Manfred von Richthofen suffered a serious head injury in combat on July 6, 1917. The Baron later reported an immediate paralysis of the appendages, blindness, and as his vision recovered--colorblindness. Von Richthofen quickly recovered these critical body functions and landed his plane. Upon reaching the ground, the Baron lapsed in and out on consciousness and appeared dead. Von Richthofen was taken to a hospital and examined. The physicians found a skull fracture and a four inch groove in the top of his skull, which contained multiple bone splinters. The Baron's doctors diagnosed a concussion of the brain and possibly a cerebral hemorrhage.
The difficulty with making a hypothesis based on another's reports is that the information studied can be inaccurate. The data that Hyatt and Orme used to diagnose von Richthofen as brain damaged is not specific enough make such a judgment. The German physicians who treated von Richthofen never noted exactly where the bullet wound was on his skull. The medical reports claimed that there was a "ten centimeter [four-inch] groove in the top of his skull" but based on such a general statement, it is impossible to determine if this injury actually did damage von Richthofen's critical frontal lobe, on which Hyatt and Orme's hypothesis rests, or another area of the brain. (1) While Hyatt and Orme's theory is a fascinating, unfortunately the condition of medicine at the time of the Red Baron's injury limits the information that they could use for their...
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