Hunting trophies are the ultimate proof of a hunter's triumph and reminders that cunning, patience, and marksmanship won the day. Most hunters hang the heads of deer, moose, and bear forever frozen in their last fight. Manfred Von Richthofen was a hunter with an entirely different set of trophies; in his room hung serial numbers cut from the tails of airplanes, machine-guns torn from wrecks, salvaged propellers, and dozen of little silver cups each with a unique inscription. In this episode we explore the early life and career of Richthofen, setting the stage for him to become "The Red Baron."

Lanoe Hawker looked across the circle at the German pilot. After thirty minutes of turning, looping, and diving neither pilot had been able to best the other. It had become obvious that this was no ordinary dogfight. Hawker had finally found a German who could match his skills in flight. Continuing to look across the circle, Hawker gave the German a little wave, and Manfred Von Richthofen, better known as "The Red Baron" waved back. This episode explores the life and contributions of Lanoe Hawker, who is often referred to as "The British Boelcke" due to his outsized impact on the British Air Force during World War I and beyond.

In late June of 1916, Oswald Boelcke found himself on a train racing away from the war on the Western Front. Deemed as too important to lose after the death of Max Immelmann, Boelcke was left with no battle to wage. Instead, he turned his energies into distilling the lessons learned from two years of fighting. This distillation led to the "Dicta Boelcke," the first codified set of air to air tactics. Combined with daily flight briefs and debriefs, Boelcka unknowingly set the standard that all air forces use more than 100 years later.