Manfred von Richthofen, also widely known as the Red Baron, is one of the most famous aviators in history and the subject of numerous representations in music, film and other media. He already received numerous honors and awards for his exploits. The following is a list of mentions of him in popular culture.
Manfred von Richthofen was mentioned regularly in the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles Schulz, and was included in subsequent television specials as a running gag. Charlie Brown's beagle Snoopy frequently fantasized about being a World War I flying ace. In his daydreams, he imagined his dog house to be a Sopwith Camel and carried a personal grudge against the Red Baron, whom he imagined to be his own character's arch enemy. In spite of Snoopy's best effort, however, the "Baron" always shot him down with little difficulty, leading Snoopy to curse the Baron for his success and swear to one day shoot him down. This recurring story arc inspired songs by The Royal Guardsmen and even a comic strip in Mad Magazine which depicted their confrontations from the Baron's point of view. The imaginary air battles between Snoopy and the Baron are referenced in The Bloody Red Baron, the second book in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, where a beagle resembling Snoopy is shot by the Baron, who feels a strange hatred towards the animal he cannot explain. Despite the antagonistic relationship the characters had in the comic strip, novels and video games, other media depicted them in less combative roles. In the Royal Guardsmen's song Snoopy's Christmas, the Baron and Snoopy are depicted as participating in The Christmas Truce. A later song by the Guardsmen, Snoopy for President, sees the Baron cast the ballot that allows Snoopy to become President of the United States, explicitly referring to Snoopy as his friend, as he also does in Snoopy's Christmas.Corto Maltese, a character by Italian cartoonist Hugo Pratt, witnesses the defeat of the Red Baron.Hans von Hammer, the troubled protagonist of DC Comics's Enemy Ace was inspired in part by Richthofen. Piloting a scarlet Fokker Dr. 1, von Hammer is a flying knight who fights according to the code of chivalry, despite being deeply disturbed by the slaughter around him. Unlike the Baron, however, Hans von Hammer was depicted as having survived to fight in World War II, in adventures inspired by those of Adolf Galland.Manfred von Richthofen is one of the main characters of Jeffrey Shaara's book, To the Last Man.The second volume in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, The Bloody Red Baron, features a vampire Richthofen who undergoes treatment in order to transform into a large bat-like creature and dispense with the need for an aeroplane.Kim Newman's novel Back in the USSA also features the Red Baron helping the Mexican government invade Texas during a communist revolution in the United States led by Eugene Debs.The last book in the Time Machine series, World War I Flying Ace, asks the reader to find out who shot down the Red Baron and take a photograph to prove the answer.In the novel Burning Shore by Wilbur Smith, one of the main character, Lord Andrew Killigan, is shot down by the Red Baron's Flying Circus.Arrowdreams, a Prix Aurora Award-winning anthology of alternate history short stories, includes "Misfire", a story by Shane Simmons in which Richthofen survives World War I and eventually commands the Luftwaffe in World War II, displacing Hermann Göring, and leading them to an unqualified victory in the Battle of Britain.1927: A Richthofen-based character appears briefly in the World War I-epic Wings, directed by air combat veteran William A. Wellman.1930: The Red Baron was a character in the Howard Hughes film Hell's Angels.1966: The Blue Max1970: In the Blake Edwards movie Darling Lili, set in World War I and starring Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson, the Red Baron is more accurately portrayed as quieter and more reserved than portrayed in The Blue Max (wherein the Baron comes across as rather pompous) and was played by actor Ingo Mogendorf.1971: The Roger Corman movie, Von Richthofen and Brown, alternatively titled The Red Baron, starred John Phillip Law as Richthofen.1994: Revenge of the Red Baron; Mickey Rooney portrays a former World War I pilot haunted by a doll version of the Red Baron that flies a toy plane. Also stars Tobey Maguire and Laraine Newman.2005: Curse of the Were-Rabbit; in the antepenultimate scene of Aardman Studios' first feature-length film in the Wallace & Gromit franchise, canine antagonist Philip pursues canine protagonist Gromit on a fairgrounds. Gromit comes upon a ride called "Dog Fighters", enters it and flies out in a Sopwith Camel, but Philip follows close behind in Richtofen's Fokker Dr.I, somewhat similar to the setting of the Baron's final fight.2008: The Red Baron a romanticized biopic, starring Matthias Schweighöfer as Richthofen.2012: War of the Worlds: Goliath; Manfred Von Richthofen leads the steampunk ARES biplanes and triplanes against the invading Martian forces.2015: The Peanuts Movie, created by Blue Sky Studios, features Richthofen's plane as both a toy and when Snoopy is creating his story.Char Aznable of Mobile Suit Gundam is based partially on the Red Baron, nicknamed the Red Comet. Both are aces famous for their striking red vehicles.A recurring antagonist in Space: Above and Beyond is a chig ace named Chiggy Von Richthofen.In the Battlestar Galactica episode "Scar", there is an ace Cylon Raider who is based on the Red Baron.Baron Soontir Fel, a character in the Star Wars expanded universe (now known as Star Wars Legends), was based on the Red Baron.In Dean McLaughlin's "Hawk Among the Sparrows", the protagonist, a pilot of modern VTOL interceptor, accidentally appears in 1916, where he withstands Red Baron.Bands
Barón Rojo and their eponymous songBarão VermelhoShadow of the Red Baron, the album of Belgian band Iron Mask, released in January 2010."Barón Rojo" (Arkangel)"Crimson Rider" (Masterplan)"Death or Glory" by Iron Maiden from the 2015 album The Book Of Souls has been stated by the band's frontman Bruce Dickinson to be about WWI triplanes. The song features several lyrics suggesting that it is written from Richthofen's viewpoint, such as the chorus referencing his claim that triplanes could "climb like a monkey and maneuver like a devil.""Gold Hick" (Guided By Voices), referencing Baron Von Richtofen"Hey Hey Snoopy" (The McCoys)"Not the Red Baron" (Tori Amos)"Peanuts" (Stephen Lynch), referencing the rivalry between Snoopy and the Red Baron"Red Baron" (Billy Cobham), from Spectrum (1973)"Red Baron" (Vince Guaraldi)"Red Baron/Blue Max" (Iced Earth)"Return of the Red Baron" (The Royal Guardsmen)"Snoopy for President" (The Royal Guardsmen)"Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" (The Royal Guardsmen, 1966)"Snoopy's Christmas" (The Royal Guardsmen, referencing the real-life Christmas Truce of 1914)"The Red Baron" (The DDTs), instrumental by a Dunedin surf-punk band named after the bass player Aaron Allcock. The Baron currently lives in Melbourne, Australia producing electronic progressive trance and plotting the resurrection of the soul of blues rock."The Red Baron" (Game Theory), from Distortion EP (1984)"The Smallest Astronaut" (The Royal Guardsmen)"The Baron" (Dick Curless)The Red Baron makes an appearance in the "Private Plane" episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder Goes Forth. After joining the Royal Flying Corps as an excuse to escape the trenches, Captain Blackadder and Private Baldrick are shot down and captured by Manfred von Richthofen (Adrian Edmondson). In a parody of wartime British propaganda, the Baron is portrayed as a stuffy martinet with an exaggerated Prussian accent who lacks a sense of humour, but tries to make up for it. He informs Blackadder and Baldrick, "For us, a toilet is a mundane, functional item. For you it is the focus of an entire culture!" Before retiring to his chateau, Richthofen comments that, "Gallant Lord Flashheart still eludes me." Soon after, Flashheart and Lieutenant George arrive to rescue their fellow flyers. At last facing his greatest adversary, Richthofen launches into a tedious soliloquy about chivalry and honor. Disgusted, Lord Flashheart shoots the Baron dead and screams, "What a poof!"Richthofen was featured in an episode of Fantasy Island, titled "The Red Baron," in which a patron of the island wished to save the Baron (portrayed by Ron Ely) from his doom. (Oct. 27, 1979)On Rankin/Bass Saturday Night Movie Special, The Red Baron was portrayed as a brown German Shepherd.In the animated series Wacky Races the Red Max and his car the Crimson Haybaler are based on the Red Baron and his plane.A villain appears as a "ghost" of the Red Baron in the original Scooby-Doo series. Shaggy also mentions Snoopy in that episode.Richthofen shows up a few times in The Young Indiana Jones ChroniclesIn the animated show SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, the undead villain Red Lynx is based off the Red Baron.The Red Baron is also parodied as the "Black Baron" in a Gumby episode where Gumby is an aviator of the First World War.Richthofen has been featured on two different shows on the History Channel: once for Unsolved History and recently Man, Moment, Machine.The pilot episode of the 1982 TV series Voyagers! sees the two main characters dog fighting Richthofen when they travel back in time. In that episode Richthofen personally challenges Rickenbacker when in truth both men never fought each other since Richthofen's squadron never faced American fliers until the latter months of the war.Although never seen directly, echoing the encounters in the strips, Richthofen made his first "appearance" with the Peanuts gang in their first animated special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in which he battles and defeats Snoopy. Snoopy and the Baron would have later encounters in various animated series episodes as well, each time defeating Snoopy with relative ease.Formula One driving legend Michael Schumacher was nicknamed "the Red Baron", due to his German heritage and his fame as a driver for the red colored Ferrari team. Coincidentally, Schumacher's younger brother Ralf followed in his footsteps as an F1 driver, similar to Richthofen's brother Lothar, who was also a fighter pilot.Baseball pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, during his career was nicknamed "The Red Baron", because of the color of his beard and hair.Former St. Louis Blues player, and current University of Michigan head hockey coach Red Berenson was also nicknamed "The Red Baron", both due to his hair color, and his last name.The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons were the AAA affiliate for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1989 to 2006.A great variety of model airplanes of all scales, and flying balsa planes, portrait dolls and figurines representing the baron and his aircraft have been produced. The Red Baron name has been attached to small plush figures and teddy bears and is widely applied to products unrelated to the WWI ace.
Grant Murray famously owned and drove the Red Baron until it was recycled by the Fire Service in July 2014.
The exploits of Richthofen and his peers inspired Cole Palen to create Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Rhinebeck, New York. Palen is credited with creating the kit-plane craze in the U.S., and was instrumental in restoring and/or retrieving priceless examples of World War I aviation. Palen built a replica Fokker Dr.I, which he flew in hundreds of simulated dogfights at Rhinebeck. 
