Walter Nowotny

Walter Nowotny (7 December 1920 – 8 November 1944) was an Austrian-born fighter ace of the Luftwaffe in World War II.

He is credited with 258 aerial victories—that is, 258 aerial combat encounters resulting in the destruction of the enemy aircraft—in 442 combat missions.

Nowotny achieved 255 of these victories on the Eastern Front and three while flying one of the first jet fighters, the Messerschmitt Me 262, in the Defense of the Reich.

He scored most of his victories in the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, and approximately 50 in the Messerschmitt Bf 109.

From 1925 to 1935, his family lived in Schwarzenau until his father was relocated to Mistelbach, north of Vienna.

Walter attended the primary school (Volksschule) in Schwarzenau before graduating to the Bundesoberrealschule in Waidhofen an der Thaya.

During these years, he also sang in the Cistercian convent choir in the Zwettl Abbey.

In 1935, he played football for the school team in Waidhofen, and in 1937, took first place in the javelin throw and third place in the Lower Austrian 1000 m track and field championships.

Nowotny also visited the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

Due to his father's relocation, Nowotny transferred to the secondary school (Oberschule) in Laa an der Thaya, where he received his diploma (Abitur) in May 1938.

In his teens, Nowotny was interested in all kinds of sports.

Nowotny had joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP—National Socialist German Workers' Party) in 1938 with a membership number 6,382,781.

Nowotny's military basic training began at the ''2.

Nowotny joined the Luftwaffe in 1939 and completed his fighter pilot training in 1941, after which he was posted to Jagdgeschwader 54 "Grünherz" (JG 54) on the Eastern Front.

For his then mandatory Labour Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst), he joined the Luftwaffe on 1 October 1939.

Flieger-Ausbildungsregiment 62 in Quedlinburg (1 October 1939 – 15 November 1939) and continued at the Luftkriegschule 5'' in Breslau-Schöngarten (16 November 1939 – 30 June 1940).

He was promoted to Fahnenjunker-Gefreiter on 1 March 1940 and shortly afterwards, on 1 April 1940, to Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier.

On 1 July 1940, Notwotny was promoted again, to the rank of Fähnrich.

He completed his pilot training and received the Pilot Badge on 19 August 1940.

Nowotny also trained as a fighter pilot at the Jagdfliegerschule 5 in Wien-Schwechat (1 August 1940 – 15 November 1940), the same school that Hans-Joachim Marseille had attended one year earlier.

One of his teachers at the Jagdfliegerschule 5 was the Austro-Hungarian World War I ace Julius Arigi.

Here Nowotny befriended Karl Schnörrer and Paul Galland, the younger brother of General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland.

After graduation from the Jagdfliegerschule 5, Nowotny was transferred to the I./Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Merseburg on 16 November 1940, flying fighter cover for the Leuna industrial works.

Nowotny was posted to the Ergänzungsstaffel (Training/Supplement Squadron) of Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54) on 1 December 1940.

JG 54 at the time was under the command of Major Hannes Trautloft.

Nowotny was transferred again, this time to the 9.

Staffel (9th squadron) of JG 54 (9./JG 54), the so-called Teufelsstaffel (Devils' Squadron) where he was further trained by veterans from the front line (23 February 1941 – 25 March 1941).

From 25 March 1941 to 10 March 1942, Notwotny flew with the Stabsstaffel of the Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe JG 54 where he was promoted to Leutnant on 1 April 1941, effective as of 1 February 1941.

Nowotny flew a Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-7 (Werknummer 1173—factory number) "White 2" on his 24th operational mission on 19 July 1941 and claimed his first two enemy aircraft, both Polikarpov I-153 biplanes of Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily (VVS—Military Air Forces) KBF's 12 OIAE/61 BAB, over Saaremaa.

He was shot down in the same engagement by Aleksandr Avdeyev, also in a I-153 fighter.

Nowotny scored an "ace in a day" on multiple occasions, shooting down at least five airplanes on the same day, including two occurrences of "double-ace in a day" (scored at least ten kills) in mid-1943.

Nowotny was the first pilot to achieve 250 victories – 194 in 1943 alone – earning him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds on 19 October 1943.

For propaganda reasons, he was ordered to cease operational flying.

Reinstated to front-line service in September 1944, Nowotny tested and developed tactics for the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.

He was credited with three victories in this aircraft type before being killed in a crash following combat with United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters on 8 November 1944.

It is thought his engine might have failed.

After his death, the first operational jet fighter wing, Jagdgeschwader 7 "Nowotny", was named in his honour.

Walter Nowotny was born in Gmünd, a small town in Lower Austria.

His father, Rudolf Nowotny, was a railway official; his two brothers, Rudolf and Hubert, became officers in the Wehrmacht.

Hubert Nowotny was killed in action in the Battle of Stalingrad.