COBI Fokker Dr.1 Red Baron Set 2986

COBI's Fokker Dr.1 Red Baron is a 1:32 model built from 174 blocks, 17.5 cm long with a 22.5 cm span. The propeller, wheels and ailerons move, two machine guns are fitted, and a figure of Manfred von Richthofen in officer's uniform sits in the cockpit. A brick with the aircraft's name completes the set. All markings are printed; no stickers.

He painted it red so they would know

Richthofen had his aircraft painted bright red in early 1917, and it was not camouflage in any sense — it was the opposite.

A conspicuous aircraft is easier to find, easier to follow and easier to shoot at. He did it anyway, and the usual explanation is that he wanted opponents to know who they were fighting. It worked: British pilots knew the red machine on sight, and the effect on a young pilot seeing it turn towards him was worth more than surprise would have been.

His squadron then did something that says more about them than about him. They painted their own aircraft partly red — red noses, red wheels, red tails — so that Richthofen would not be the only red machine in the sky and the enemy could not simply pick him out.

Between that and the fact that the unit moved constantly by rail and lived in tents beside whichever airfield it was needed at, the British started calling it the Flying Circus. The name stuck, and Jagdgeschwader 1 has been known by it ever since.

In the COBI range

Set 2996 is COBI's other Fokker Dr.1, with 221 pieces and a figure of Richthofen's dog Moritz. Set 2994 is the Fokker D.VII and 2997 Guynemer's Nieuport 17.

Specifications

Pieces: 174 · Figures: 1, Manfred von Richthofen · Scale: 1:32 · No stickers
Model dimensions: 17.5 × 22.5 × 11 cm (6.9 × 8.9 × 4.3 in)