Futility Closet

In 1918, German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen chased an inexperienced Canadian pilot out of a dogfight and up the Somme valley. It would be the last chase of his life. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the last moments of the Red Baron and the enduring controversy over who ended his career. We'll also consider some unwanted name changes and puzzle over an embarrassing Oscar speech. Intro: In the early 1970s, AI researcher James Meehan tried to teach a computer to retell Aesop's fables. In 1983, Jacob Henderson appealed a burglary conviction on the ground that the indictment was illiterate. Sources for our feature on the death of Manfred von Richthofen: Norman Franks and Alan Bennett, The Red Baron's Last Flight: A Mystery Investigated, 1998. Dale M. Titler, The Day the Red Baron Died, 1990. P.J. Carisella and James W. Ryan, Who Killed the Red Baron?, 1969. Dan Hampton, Lords of the Sky: Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, From the Red Baron to the F-16, 2014. Nicolas Wrigh