A book about "The Red Baron"

well, i think it goes without saying that the high totals ran up by the WWI aces had a lot to do with surviving long enough too gain experience, then preying on those that had little.

there must have been a lot of second string pilots around, it has also been said that barker meet a lot of second rate pilots on the italian front.

Precisely so. A surviving pilot who had been at the front for a few weeks had a decided advantage over a green pilot with, perhaps, five hours on type.
Stupidity also played a great hand.
Early in his flying career, before he had any victories to his credit, a young German pilot got into a duel with Guynemer, the great French ace. Laying in long bursts, he got class 3 jams in both guns and was helpless. Guynemer saw his perdicament and out of chivalry, gallantry and gross stupidity, wagged his wings and flew away, sparing Ernst Udet, who became the second highest ranking ace of WW-I.

I literally grew up hearing about the Red Baron on a daily basis. It has been my fathers life-long passion and he finally had his works published in 2000, "The Many Deaths of the Red Baron" by Frank McGuire.
Cheers
Geoff