London, UK — They were the most deadly air aces of the First World War, with 124 confirmed “kills” between them, though Baron Manfred von Richthofen and Albert Ball never fought each other in the skies over the Western Front.
But two of their relatives have now met for the first time at the opening of a new exhibition about the earliest days of air warfare at the Royal Air Force Museum, in London.
Baron Donat von Richthofen, who is a cousin of Manfred, better known as the “Red Baron”, shared family legends with Vanda Day, the great niece of Captain Ball, at a lunch attended by the Duke of Edinburgh.
Mrs Day, a 55-year-old illustrator from Nottingham, often visited Ball’s sister Lois, who lived until 1984.
She said: “It does feel odd meeting relatives of the Red Baron, it’s like history coming to life, but it is a real pleasure.”
Ball, who shot down 44 German aircraft with another 25 “possibles” and was posthumously awarded the VC, died aged 20 in 1917 when his aircraft crashed after he disappeared in clouds while doing battle with the Red Baron’s younger brother Lothar.
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