A New Scientist article refers to a study that claims Manfred von Richthofen’s, aka the Red Baron’s, legendary achievements to be largely thanks to luck. According to the study, statistically at least one German WW1 pilot ought to have won around 80 aerial victories in a row by pure chance.
This, of course, is not much of news, as it is well known by people interested in WW1 aerial combat (perhaps via the old Sierra computer game Red Baron) that Red Baron wasn’t a particularly skilled pilot. He was, however, very good at avoiding problems, and strictly followed a set of flight rules. He was, apparently, also quite good at shooting things.
The title of this entry, by the way, comes from a Tori Amos song of the same name.
