Walter Nowotny

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Walter Nowotny (December 7, 1920 - November 8, 1944) was a Sudeten German fighter ace of World War II with 258 confirmed victories in 442 missions, 255 victories over Russian pilots.

He was born in České Velenice (Gmünd), a small town in the Czech Republic. He joined the Luftwaffe in October 1939 and undertook his training near Vienna at Jagfliegerschule 5. The new Leutnant was posted to Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG-54) in February 1941, assigned to the Eastern Front.

Flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109 he shot down his first two enemy aircraft (both Polikarpov I-153 biplanes) over Saaremaa on July 19, and was shot down himself the same day by Alexandr Avdeev and spent three days in a dinghy in Riga Bay. At year's end he was credited with ten victories.

In 1942 Nowotny continued to increase his successes, shooting down five aircraft on a single day in July and seven on August 2. He was shot down again on August 11 and sustained moderate damage in a crash-landing. In September he was awarded the Knight's Cross (the Ritterkreuz), having achieved 56 victories. He was made Staffelkapitän in October.

During 1943, "Nowy" scored at an unprecedented rate, often averaging more than two planes a day for weeks on end. He scored his 75th victory in March and his 100th in June - shooting down forty-one aircraft that month. In August he was promted to Oberleutnant, made Gruppenkommandeur, and shot down forty-nine aircraft. On September 1 he scored ten victories in two sorties. He claimed his 200th victory on September 8 and had his Knight's Cross garlanded, and the swords added a few weeks later.

On 14 October 1943, Nowotny became the first pilot ever to reach 250 victories, and his Knight's Cross was augmented with diamonds (the Brillanten). He was the eighth recipient of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, Swords, and Diamonds, and was withdrawn from combat and given a long series of propaganda activities. He had shot down 255 enemy aircraft: 196 in 1943 alone.

Nowotny was Geschwaderkommodore of JG-101, a training unit, from April, 1944. In September 1944 he was made commander of the specialist unit dubbed Kommando Nowotny, flying the new Messerschmitt Me 262 out of airfields near Osnabrück. Nowotny had achieved three victories in his temperamental aircraft (two B-24s and a P-51) before he was killed in a crash east of Hesepe. The victory was shared by USAAF ace Ernest Fiebelkorn and Lt. Edward Haydon.

Walter Nowotny was buried at the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna in a grave of honor sponsored by the city of Vienna. After a long public debate, the Vienna Landtag passed a resolution supported by Social Democrats and Greens to remove the status of honor in 2004.

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