Chris Griffith’s Red Baron run inspires a flight of imagination

Loop, roll and only live once. Our tech reporter’s world is turned upside down on an aerobatics ride | VIDEO

A barrel roll, wingover, loop, stall turn and aileron roll: it was aerobatics in the Red Baron and indeed a YOLO moment.

“You Only Live Once” increasingly has been my catchcry the longer I walk this earth, but this wasn’t walking earth at all.

Instead, 98 years after the original Red Baron, Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, was famously shot down during World War I, I was squeezing into a tiny open cockpit space in his namesake, a two-seater Pitts Special S2A aerobatic biplane, and putting on two harnesses. Without them, once we flew upside down I’d drop out as easily as water from an overturned cup.

“Hey, mind that cable near your leg,” said Joel Haski, owner of Red Baron Adventure Flights and pilot extraordinaire for the trip.

I immediately had a vision of thrusting my numbing leg on to that cable mid-flight, incapacitating the rudder and dooming us both. Keeping that leg in check became my life mission.

So what was it like sitting in a two-seater, looping the loop and spinning like a clothes dryer?

Actually it didn’t feel like spinning at all. It was as if we were still and the world had gone dizzy around us. I looked up and thought: why is the ground floating above me? Has it gone crazy? The same applied to the ocean. Then I’d look down to view the sky. It was surreal. You can enjoy the experience online at The Australian websitecourtesy of the two 4K cameras aboard.

The purpose of this jolly jaunt was to try Breitling’s new Exospace B55 connected watch which I wore on the trip. At $11,730, it’s an expensive time piece but the Swiss brand has its enthusiasts and it’s a fashion statement among many pilots.

It records key flight data, such as block off, takeoff, landing and block on times. These are the times pilots traditionally enter into their flight logs.

The experience of Haski, an aerobatic champion and flight instructor with decades of flying under his belt, was a consoling factor for the washing machine-like ride.

Another was the perfect weather conditions in Sydney: clear skies with hardly a breath of wind.

Despite the presence of commercial flights not so far away, we had clearance to fly close and personal to the Coathanger, a thrill in itself.

We scooted south of Sydney Harbour, then back northward near the Opera House, flying obliquely in front of the bridge. It was exhilarating.

The tree canopy in the city’s northwest made everything look so peaceful from about 1500 feet, masking any skulduggery humankind was indulging in below.

Haski explained that the Pitts Special S2A was a 70s design. To me, the bi-plane had such incredibly short wings, it was amazing it flew at all.

The trip in the Red Baron bi-plane got me thinking about von Richthofen, the Red Barron phenomenon and his bizarre legacy.

He flew a variety of planes but was famously associated with a Fokker Dr. I tri-plane from which he scored 19 hits and died in on April 21, 1918.

Having shot down 80 planes, with about 73 deaths matched to British losses, von Richthofen was treated like a hero across enemy lines even at death. Why was this so?

The Australian connections are of course fascinating. He was shot down in the Somme Valley where Australians troops were stationed in World War 1 and he was buried with full military honours.

Archival footage from The Australian War Memorial shows Australians forming a guard of honour at his funeral, acting as pallbearers, firing a gun salute and generally running the show. The footage also shows British soldiers bringing along wreaths to his funeral.

This idea of military chivalry and admiration for the enemy’s skill in air warfare mid-war was real but so hard to fathom through 2016 eyes. If we could think so highly of the enemy why did more than 17 million people have to die in World War 1?

Two years beforehand in 1916 the Somme Valley itself had been a slaughter field with 500,000 German and 420,000 British Empire casualties including 16,000 Australians.

Overwhelming numbers would have died alone, with no wreaths, ceremonial burials, gun salutes, or notions of chivalry. And a second Somme battle would take place four months after von Richthofen’s death. But a funeral such as von Richthofen’s transcended all that.

Then there’s the issue of who killed the 25-year-old Prussian. For a long time Canadian pilot Captain Roy Brown was thought to have fired the fatal shot but, after exhaustive investigations, it’s believed that Sydney-born Sergeant Cedric Popkin was the most likely person to have killed von Richthofen. But nothing is certain.

According to records, Popkin had fired at von Richthofen with a Vickers heavy machine gun from a position consistent with von Richthofen being killed by an upward travelling bullet from the right hand side. The other contenders’ locations did not match that bullet’s trajectory.

The treatment of von Richthofen at death is a heavy issue to prosecute following such a joyous, light hearted “Red Baron” flight over Sydney, but when you get into a small aerobatic plane, it’s amazing where it will take both your body and mind.

In death the Red Baron’s legacy has been enormous worldwide. There’s references or appearances in at least 10 movies, a swag of works of popular fiction, board games, and comic strips.

Australian troops form a guard of honour at von Richthofen’s funeral in France during World War I.

* The “Red Baron” flight also was a chance to try Breitling’s new Exospace B55 connected watch which I wore on the trip. At $11,730, it’s an expensive time piece but the Swiss brand has its enthusiasts and it’s a fashion statement among many pilots.

It records key flight data, such as block off, takeoff, landing and block on times. These are the times pilots traditionally enter into their flight logs.

It’s been a hard journey for Swiss watch manufacturers who have been blitzed by the smartwatch revolution elsewhere. But with the B55, Breitling is one of few traditional watch makers to up its quotient of smart watch-like capabilities and to offer connectivity with iOS and Android apps.

So the flight data that you accumulate on the B55 can be uploaded to your phone. You can also email data to yourself as a spreadsheet and copy and paste its contents to the pilot’s log. The Exospace also notifies you of incoming calls, and messages received by SMS or WhatsApp.

The watch also shows two times. One is depicted by the analog hands, the other digitally.

The Exospace itself is housed in a light titanium case equipped with a rotating bezel, and a strap in two-tone rubber.

One thing I noticed was the backlighting system. Sure, you can activate it by pressing the crown. But you also can activate it by tilting your wrist, which would be useful in the cockpit.

Breitling began as a family affair. In 1884 Leon Breitling opened a workshop specialising in making chronograph pocket watches and precision counters in St-Imier, in the Jura mountains of Switzerland.

His son Gaston and grandson Willy later ran the company until Ernest Schneider took control of the firm in 1979. It is now owned by Theodore Schneider, his son. Theodore Schneider’s nephew, Mathieu Brunisholz lives in Australia and runs the company in Oceania.

Chris Griffith flew in the Red Baron courtesy of Breitling.

Breitling's Exospace B55 watch for pilots