The Red Baron's Mitteleuropa

Prologue: It All Started with a Busted Engine




Like all nations currently at war, the German Empire has its own set of heroes to boast. This was true for a man who became a legendary figure, due to his actions in the skies. He wasn’t called the Red Baron for nothing, because he used red as his custom color scheme for his Fokker biplane. It was a normal day in the town of Wervicq when Manfred von Richthofen’s squadron was scheduled to go on a reconnaissance mission. Just as Richthofen’s Fokker plane was about to take off, a loud explosion broke out in front of him. Three mechanics yelled out for him to get off the biplane, which he did albeit slowly. One of the mechanics examined the busted engine and cursed under his breath. The Red Baron grew curious as to how would he sortie with a broken biplane, but a second mechanic told him that it will take up to a week for a brand new engine to arrive on the airfield. Finally, the Red Baron’s younger brother Lothar von Richthofen arrived at the airfield with his own Fokker D.VII unit, offering to take up command instead. Older brother Manfred refused to let Lothar command his squadron, knowing his reckless nature. Instead, he delegated the task of commanding the recon squadron to Kurt Wolff and assigned a few more pilots under his command, including a brash pilot named Hermann Goering. Three hours later, Wolff’s hastily built squadron took off from the German airfield and on their way to confront the British RFC squadron approaching Wervicq. On the ground, British anti-aircraft gunfire erupted, forcing Wolff’s squadron to scatter. Even as the German Jasta squadrons continued to shoot down several British aircraft, a British biplane piloted by one Donald Cunnel opened fire on the German squadron. After he spent twenty minutes dodging German Fokker biplanes, he came across a lone biplane which developed engine problems while airborne. Cunnel aimed his machine gun at the defective Fokker and pulled the trigger. Immediately, the Fokker biplane caught fire and plummeted into the ground, exploding once it made contact on the ground. By the time the recon mission was over, Kurt Wolff was notified that Hermann Goering succumbed to his injuries five minutes after his plane crashed into the ground. On another battlefield, a young messenger from Bavaria was killed in an artillery shell while attempting to deliver a telegraph message to a German colonel inside the trenches.


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Manfred von Richthofen's unlikely survival due to a busted engine ensured his survival in the Great War. Because of his survival, the Red Baron will have another role to play in the turbulent inter-war period.
 
Hmm, I wonder who that Bavarian messanger was? ;)

Very interesting. I look forward to seeing where you go with this, to my knowledge, unique POD.
 
Very interesting. I look forward to seeing where you go with this, to my knowledge, unique POD.

I agree. Back on soc.history.what-if, there was a similar POD ( for a timeline called A Man and a Dog ... Uh Plane) where Richthoven was unable to fly because he tripped over a large white dog that had been dressed up in a British flying helmet.

Cheers,
Nigel.
 
So there goes the fortune of a certain German party (TL now forbidden) as two of its leaders pass away the same day.

The Germans might not know it, but that was one of their better days :D

Looking forward to read more...
 
Fascinated...

...I put MvR in China, in my first (long) HMS Heligoland TL. As a mercenary pilot of the Warlord of Manchuria. Saves the warlord and later clobbers the IJA airforce.

As a politician? Well, we'll see...

...Your mission, should you accept it...

...Keep this TL going!!
 

Archibald

Banned
A very interesting POD and a good start
(minor nitpicking: imagine if Goering aircraft, while crashing to the ground, actually crushed that unfortunate bavarian messenger... Goering killing Hitler !:p )
For the record, the French Richtofen (René Fonck, 75 victories) survived WWI and lived until 1953. As a WWI hero he was inevitably a good friend of Pétain, and ended in Vichy as a "collabo".
 

abc123

Banned
Intresting. Subscribed.
I do hope that this TL will not end as previous with similar POD...
 

abc123

Banned
It's obviously Adolf Hitler. But I will have a big role slotted for Hermann Fegelein.

Minor nitpick, it would really be cool that certain Bohemian Corporal is killed by MvR or HG either by crushing aircraft on him or accidentally droping a bomb on him or something similar...:D


Also, the POD is in wich year? 1916? 1917? 1918?
 
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We know his cousin or brother Wolfram joined the Nazis but what do
we know of MvR's politics?

Given the nature of Post Great War German politics its only a matter of
time before some pretty unsavoury characters acquire positions
of power. With a man of MvR's intelligence and charisma
by their side rather than those of Hitler and Hugenberg respectively
this doesn't seem to bode well for the future ...
 
Minor nitpick, it would really be cool that certain Bohemian Corporal is killed by MvR or HG either by crushing aircraft on him or accidentally droping a bomb on him or something similar...:D


Also, the POD is in wich year? 1916? 1917? 1918?

I believe it was in 1917, to be precise, on July 6th. IOTL, it was this date where Richthofen suffered a head injury. ITTL, that injury doesn't occur because of a busted engine on his triplane.
 
Good choice, interesting historical figure, and no more Goering. I am subscribed.

The only issue I have with the Red Baron is I keep thinking of snoopy hunting him on his doghouse.
 
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