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it made sense that Manfred would be, too. The boy excelled at horseback riding, and when World War I began in 1914, Manfred thought he’d be going to battle on horseback. But mounted soldiers were being replaced by a new vehicle…the airplane.
    Von Richthofen enrolled in aviation school and made his first solo flight after only 24 hours of training. He crash landed that first time out, but eventually passed his exams and took to the skies to attack Germany’s enemies—the French, Canadians, and English. On September 17, 1916, he shot down his first enemy plane—and began a string of aerial victories that remains unmatched to this day.
    THE CRIMSON CRUSADER
    By January 14, 1917, von Richthofen had his 16th victory, making him Germany’s number-one flying ace. The German government gave the young pilot a medal and a squadron of his own. He also painted his plane red—both to intimidate enemies and to make it recognizable to German troops on the ground so they wouldn’t shoot at him. Within weeks, his friends and enemies were calling him the Red Baron.
    Q. The Nile is the world’s longest river, but what’s #2? A: The Amazon.
    THE RED BARON RULES THE SKIES
    Von Richthofen’s squadron became the most feared group of air fighters in World War I. During “Bloody April” 1917, the British lost 912 airmen to the Red Baron’s pilots. Von Richthofen himself shot down 41 planes. The German military, afraid of losing its best pilot, ordered him to take a couple of months’ vacation. But shortly after his return to duty in September, he upped his victory count to 60. By April 1918, the German ace had increased his total to an incredible 80 victories. There seemed no way to stop the Red Baron.
    REVENGE OF THE SOPWITH CAMEL
    Like most German pilots, von Richthofen usually flew a triplane, which had three wings and was more maneuverable than other airplanes, but didn’t always fly steady. In 1916, though, the British air force had introduced a new, sturdier fighter plane, the Sopwith Camel. And it was against one of these that the Red Baron finally met his match.
    First character to speak in Star Wars: A New Hope : C-3PO.
    On April 21, 1918, Canadian pilot Wilfrid May was on patrol over France in a Sopwith Camel when he found himself under attack by the Red Baron. (Canada and Britain were allies.) May was not an experienced flyer, and he later said that it was because of his erratic, jerky turns that he survived the battle. Nonetheless, the young Canadian held his own.
    May finally decided to head back to his own territory, but the German ace followed him. Another Canadian pilot named Arthur “Roy” Brown saw the dogfight and chased after von Richthofen’s plane, as friendly troops on the ground opened fire. But the Red Baron easily avoided Brown and continued after May, who cringed as machine-gun bullets whipped past his ears.
    GOING DOWN
    Then suddenly, the firing stopped. May circled back to see the Red Baron’s plane making a bouncy emergency landing below. When it came to a stop, the soldiers on the ground approached warily. The plane’s motor was still running, and the propeller still turning, but there was no movement in the cockpit. When one of them finally looked inside, he found the Red Baron barely alive. A single bullet had come up through the floor of the plane and lodged in the ace’s chest. One of the soldiers on the ground had fired a lucky shot.
    The Red Baron died in his cockpit soon after. He was only 25, and legend has it that just before he died, he whispered, “Kaput”—finished.
    Number of mammal species identified (so far) by scientists: 5,416.

HOW TO MAKE A VOODOO DOLL
    People around the world actually practice voodoo, but what’s the story behind the superstition.
    I S VOODOO REAL?
    Voodoo is a religion that merges African pagan beliefs and Roman Catholicism. In the 1500s and 1600s, the French (who were mostly Catholic) brought slaves to Haiti from Africa, and those men and women carried