Friends of the Red Baron

My boy's doctor's office used to have a great Red Baron type Fokker Dr.I triplane kite in the waiting room, along with some other less cool ones. One day we're waiting for a routine check-up & i notice the kite is gone! Somehow knowing the answer already, i went up to the front desk to ask, "What happened to the Red Baron kite?" The lady behind the desk said, "Oh, we took it down." "That's obvious, but why'd you take it down?" I pressed. "Oh, well, a patron complained about it being associated with Nazis." she said, looking down. My blood began to boil, "Do you know which war he flew in? There were no Nazis in WWI. This is just anti-German!" "Well, when a patron complains..." i wasn't listening anymore. One of the kites they kept up in the waiting room was a pirate ship, which i have NO problem with, except that pirates are played out. BUT, pirates are universally bad characters, even if you're a pirate you know that, but the Red Baron was one of the Knights of the Air, respected even by his enemies during WWI! The Red Baron is also an icon of coolness, very few things look as cool as the red color of his Fokker Dr.I triplane with the black Iron Cross emblazoned on the side. Nothing! After seeing that the plane ride at the Oakland Zoo had removed the iron crosses from the sides of their red planes i knew something had to be done! The Red Baron needed an advocacy group, "The Friends of the Red Baron".
The Royal Guardsmen - Snoopy vs. the Red Baron

Download here.
Super Robot Red Baron

Kustom Kulture can always recognize a strong style icon.

What happened in the 80s & 90s that suddenly made the Red Baron a touchy subject? Is this connected with the far-leftist Punk scene's decision that Nazis were their number one political enemy in 1980? What the hell was going on?