German WWI Postcard Manfred von Richthofen Red Baron Downed Aircraft NPG 6255

Original First World War-era German photographic postcard of Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, published by the Neue Photographische Gesellschaft (NPG) of Berlin-Steglitz as card No. 6255, with the photographic credit “Phot. C. Hunich” at lower right and the NPG monogram and card number at lower left. Unlike the more familiar numbered aviator portraits of the Berlin publisher Willi Sanke, this card is an NPG issue. It shows Richthofen at full length, hands behind his back, standing before the wreckage of downed Allied aircraft whose wings and fabric bear prominent roundel markings.

The printed caption reads “Rittmeister Freiherr von Richthofen, unser erfolgreichster Kampfflieger” (Rittmeister Baron von Richthofen, our most successful combat aviator). He wears the Pour le Mérite (Order of Merit) at the collar and further decorations on the breast of his tunic. Images posed with captured or downed enemy machines were a staple of wartime publicity, and this composition presents Richthofen exactly as the German public came to know him: the hunter beside his trophies.

The Neue Photographische Gesellschaft was one of the largest photographic publishing houses in Imperial Germany. During the 1914–1918 conflict it produced real-photo postcards of the royal family, military commanders and, increasingly, the new heroes of the air.

Manfred von Richthofen, born in 1892 into a Silesian noble family, began the conflict as a cavalry officer in Ulanen-Regiment Kaiser Alexander III. von Russland (Westpreußisches) Nr. 1 before transferring to the air service. Trained by Oswald Boelcke and posted to Jagdstaffel 2, he went on to command Jagdstaffel 11 in January 1917. He received the Pour le Mérite that same month. Under his leadership in the spring of 1917, Jasta 11 became the most successful fighter unit on the Western Front during the air battles over Arras. In June 1917 he was given command of Jagdgeschwader I, the first permanent German fighter wing, whose brightly painted aircraft earned it the name “Flying Circus.” He was credited with 80 aerial victories, the highest total of any pilot of the period, before he fell over the Somme on 21 April 1918.

Condition is very good. The sepia image is clean, bright and sharply detailed, with only light handling wear. The reverse is unused and was never posted, with light toning and small pencil marks in the stamp box.

Richthofen remains the most widely collected personality in First World War aviation, and period photographic material of him is a cornerstone of any collection devoted to the Imperial German air service. A full-length image with downed enemy aircraft, from a major publisher other than Sanke, is a welcome alternative to the standard portrait cards. It pairs naturally with material relating to his brother Lothar and to the pilots of Jasta 11.