No. In the Red Baron’s native Germany he was called Der Rote Kameliegger, meaning “The Red Battle Flyer.”
Why the “Red”? Before effective anti-aircraft guns made camouflage a necessity, pilots tended to paint their planes bright colors as a way of identifying each other.
Von Richthofen favored red.
These colorful planes looked so brightly festive when grouped together that earthbound soldiers called them “the flying circus.”
