I agree, I've read Kilduff's book and created an honor's project presentation on Richthofen at college in the past. I am certain he should have been grounded after the head injury, he was never 100% ever again, but he wanted to keep flying and someone of his merit was valuable for the entire army's morale so he kept going.
I vaguely remember something Richthofen said about flying over the trenches and seeing the poor, downtrodden soldiers climb out on their dugout roofs, risking life just to wave him on and cheer. He was flying for them it seems, doing the best he could to releive the ground forces pain. And in doing that he sacrificed his own health and eventually his life.
We also must realize that the loss of so many friends began to effect him, Kilduff captures a moment in Richthofens house where he is looking at photo's of old friends and his mother is looking on. She points to a young pilot and says what ever happened to him, Richthofen says "dead", she points to another and Richthofen says "dead" again, then he says please stop asking mother, they are all dead
Was a sad and gripping moment and something I'd never heard before.
Lost in his 80 kills, and surrounded by myth and legend it is often forgotten that he was a real person just like you, and just like me. The war effected him and the loss of his friends effected him. He wasn't a god, or a machine, he was a man.
