Manfred von Richtofen, the German flying ace known as the “Red Baron,” regularly landed next to Allied planes after shooting them down on the German side of the battle lines during World War I, said Tom La Padula.
Richtofen would walk over to the downed plane, take out his pocket knife, cut away the serial number, then take it home and hang it in his bedroom, said La Padula, an artist from the New York City suburb of La Rochelle, New York.
La Padula has created 80 artworks picturing each of Richtofen’s 80 confirmed aerial combat victories.
The 20-inch by 16-inch oil paintings will be on display from Aug. 5 to May 25 in the Combat Air Museum at Topeka Regional Airport, 7016 SE Forbes Ave.
“These pictures are phenomenal,” said Gene Howerter, chairman of the museum’s board of directors.
Kevin Drewelow, the museum’s director, said he felt pleased to be able to display the exhibit after it was turned down by the National World War I Museum at Kansas City, Missouri.
Artist says he was looking for project he could ‘sink his teeth into’
La Padula, 69, delivered the artworks July 29 to the Combat Air Museum, where Drewelow said admission prices will remain the same while the exhibit is present.
La Padula has spent nearly 50 years as an illustrator for advertising agencies, publishing houses and magazines, and has taught since 1986 at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, he said.
La Padula reached the point where he was looking for a project he could “sink his teeth into,” he said.
All the jobs he was doing were “like the same thing over and over again, and I was tired of doing it,” he said.
La Padula said he came one day upon something he’d bought many years earlier, a DC Comics journal featuring a fictional character based on Richtofen.
That sparked La Padula’s interest in researching Richtofen’s aerial victories and painting an illustration of each.
Those 80 artworks and one other — showing Richtofen’s death scene — will appear in a book being published Nov. 30 by Pen & Sword Books titled “The Red Baron’s Kills: An Illustrated Portrayal of Manfred von Richtofen’s Victories.”
The death scene picture isn’t part of the Topeka exhibit because it doesn’t fit into the format involved, La Padula said.
Who was the Red Baron?
Richtofen, who came from an aristocratic family, was the leading ace pilot in World War I. He downed 80 Allied aircraft between 1916 and 1918 while becoming known as the “Red Baron” after painting his plane bright red, Drewelow said.
Most of Richtofen’s victories came while flying planes that were not red, La Padula said.
The group Richtofen commanded was known as “The Flying Circus,” due to the colorful paint schemes of its planes and its constant relocation to the heaviest area of fighting, Drewelow said.
Richtofen was credited with shooting down planes flown by 78 British pilots, one Canadian pilot and one South African pilot, La Padula said.
He told of how Allied anti-aircraft fire from the ground struck Richtofen in the heart, killing him, on April 21, 1918, as he pursued a novice Canadian pilot, Wilfred Reid “Wop” May, who would go on to become a leading postwar aviator.
Apparently frustrated by his inability to shoot May down, Richtofen died while violating one of his own personal rules by flying dangerously low, La Padula said. Richtofen died 11 days short of turning 26 years old.
La Padula painted Richtofen’s victories in chronological order
La Padula said he started in January 2022 creating artworks picturing Richtofen’s victories, and finished about a year ago.
He said he painted Richtofen’s victories in chronological order from 1 to 80, and was early in the process when Pen & Sword asked him to provide the illustrations and do the writing for the book set to come out later this year.
As far as La Padula knows, he is the only person to have depicted all 80 of Richtofen’s victories artistically, he said.
“There are books that talk about all 80, but no one has depicted all of them,” he said.
La Padula said he took care to make sure each painting accurately reflected the weather conditions, the planes involved, the time of day and the angle of the sun.
He said he had to redo one “because I had the wrong time of day, so I had to repaint the background.”
La Padula redid two others “because I just didn’t like them,” he said.
Artist: Painting Richtofen’s victories gets him called ‘a lot of names’
When La Padula posts his pictures online, he gets called “a lot of names” by people in England who “are still holding grudges,” he said.
“I’m just painting history, and for me, painting history is very important because I’m trying to be as realistic as possible,” he said. “I think it’s important to have the facts down so you can show what happened as accurately as possible. I’m not picking sides. I’m just saying, ‘This is what happened.'”
La Padula expressed satisfaction that “a lot” of people are cheering him on.
He recalled having had lunch two weeks ago in New York City with Bradley Lansdale, a relative of Lt. Ernest C. Lansdale, who died of his wounds soon after Richtofen shot him down Aug. 30, 1916, during Lansdale’s first combat flight.
Ernest Lansdale was the heir to a beverage company but “decided to go defend his country,” La Padula said.
“He had one flight, and he was done,” he said.
Richtofen wrote of Ernest Lansdale, “You could tell he didn’t have a lot of experience,” La Padula said.
He said Bradley Lansdale asked to buy a print of his painting showing the aerial battle in which Ernest Lansdale died.
“I think it’s important that we remember these guys,” La Padula said.
What brought the Richtofen artworks to Topeka?
La Padula said his familiarity with Kansas previously involved only the book and movie “The Wizard of Oz” and the football team the Kansas City Chiefs, which actually is based in Kansas City, Missouri.
But La Padula said he contacted the Combat Air Museum after his adult daughter spoke positively of it after visiting it while on a trip to this part of the country.
La Padula said he then enjoyed “very good dialogue” with Chuck Watson, the museum’s art curator, who is coordinating the exhibit. Watson is an active multimedia artist and retired school art teacher, Drewelow said.
The only things La Padula is receiving in exchange for allowing his artworks to be exhibited here are hotel lodging in Topeka and dinner July 29 at the Blind Tiger Restaurant & Brewery for himself and his son, Matt La Padula, who accompanied him, Drewelow said.
What’s La Padula’s latest project?
While La Padula has taken some flak for focusing on a “bad guy” in his Richtofen project, he said his latest project is about “good guys.”
That project involves creating artworks illustrating the 60 confirmed victories achieved during World War I by the aces in the U.S. 94th Aero Squadron, La Padula said. A pilot was considered an “ace” if he earned five aerial victories.
The 94th was commanded by Eddie Rickenbacker, who had 26 of its victories to lead all U.S. aces in World War I.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
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