Advanced Training

Richthofen worked hard at Cologne and was the first of the thirty to finish. Several did not qualify. On June 10, he was sent to the No. 6 Air Replacement Section at Grossenhain for two more weeks of training. The observation course would alter be expanded to twelve weeks, but in that first year of discovery that aerial observation was an important tool for the army, observers were scarce, and were cranked out as quickly as possible. Besides flying, Richthofen had classroom instruction in map reading, camouflage recognition, troop and artillery spotting, bomb dropping, use of compass and telescope, meteorology, and photography. He had to draw maps in flight of what he saw and have them finished and ready for use before the Albatros landed.