# The Red Baron

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-baron/191280>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 27, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-baron/191280 "2003-07-27T17:38:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-baron/191280/1 "2003-07-27T17:38:18Z")

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[http://www.historialago.com/maq\_foto\_richtoffen\_01.jpg](http://www.historialago.com/maq_foto_richtoffen_01.jpg)

What kind of uniform is Richtoffen wearing in this photo? It looks Kryptonian.

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**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-baron/191280/2 "2003-07-27T17:52:31Z")

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That tunic is a "plastern’ (as in mustard plaster): with a trapezoid piece that buttons up its left and right side. He wore it because he’d stared out in the cavalry.

Plastern tunics were worn by heavy cavalry regiments, as a vestige of the metal breatplates they once wore. Light cavalry wore “hussar” tunics; they had horizontal rows of braided frogging across the chest and buttoned down the center.

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**Author:** ![GuyMontag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ad7895/32.png) [@GuyMontag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuyMontag)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-baron/191280/3 "2003-07-27T19:53:55Z")

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Slithy Tove–that has got to be one of the most obscure trivia tidbits I’ve heard pulled out of someone’s head. You, my friend, have my respect.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-baron/191280/4 "2003-07-27T20:14:58Z")

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I believe that _Plastern_ is (appropriately) the German word for it. It very much resembles the “shield shirt” worn by some units of U.S. cavalry in the 19th century (and continuing by some cowboys, today).

The English word for the _Plastern_, when refering to the armor, is _plastron_, which is also the word for the “breastplate” portion of a turtle shell (the back being the carapace).