Victory
255
Major Walter Nowotny was one of the greatest air aces of the Second World War, with his 258 homologated victories he ranks fifth in the list of Luftwaffe fighter pilots.
Late start
Born in Gmünd, Austria, on December 7, 1920, he did not join the Luftwaffe until October 1939. At this time of the war, the quality of training was still very high, which allowed him to benefit from one the best training ever given to young pilots; this also explains the fact that he did not join the front until February 1941, when he was transferred to JG.54 "Grünherz" (fighter wing 54 "green hearts"). He had to experience a hectic start to the fight:thus on July 19, 1941, after having obtained his first three victories near the island of Osel, he was in turn hit by enemy fire and had to "crash" his Bf.109 in the Baltic. He survived this forced landing but nevertheless spent three days on his dinghy, rowing with his hands, before returning to the coast. It took him just a year to break the 50 win mark; which he succeeded on August 4, 1942 by shooting down 7 Soviet planes during the same day. Exactly one month later, on September 4, 1942, he received the Ritterkreuz and on the following October 25 he was appointed Staffelkapitan of 9/JG.54; which represented a huge responsibility for a young man of barely 21 years old.
1943:the advent of an ace
It was in the summer of 1943 that Walter Nowotny came out of "anonymity" and, from June, he accumulated successes:41 victories in June, 49 in August, 45 in September and 31 in October. He thus obtained his hundredth victory on June 15, the 150° on August 18 and the 200° in September. To achieve such a record, he had a succession of days with multiple victories:
* on 08/06/1943:6 victories,
* on 13/08/1943:9 victories,
* on 18/08/1943:6 victories ,
* on 21/08/1943:7 victories,
* on 01/09/1943:10 victories,
* on 02/09/1943:6 victories,
* on 14/09/1943:6 victories,
* on 09/10/1943:8 victories
The decorations followed the frantic rhythm of his successes:on September 4 he received the Eichenlaub and on the 22nd of the same month he was the 37th recipient of the Schwerter. October 1943 was for him the month of all records:in ten days he obtained 32 victories and, on October 14, 1943, he became the first pilot in the world to cross the "cap" of 250 homologated victories. With such a record, obtained during 442 missions, he was the eighth soldier in the German army to be decorated with the Brillanten. He was just 22 and only four other drivers were to meet and exceed his score:Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn, Günther Rall and Otto Kittel.
1944:the end of an outstanding pilot
In February 1944, he was appointed for five months to the command of Schulegeschwader.101 (wing school 101), stationed in France. He proved to be a remarkable pedagogue there and several of his students would owe to the quality of his instruction and his practical advice, not only to survive future battles, but also to be able to reach the status of ace themselves. Then in July 1944 he was asked to form an experimental unit equipped with the new Messerschmitt Me 262 jet. He created Kommando Nowotny, which he trained and led into battle against four-engined B-17 and B-24 bombers, shooting down three of these, his only successes on the Western Front. On November 8, 1944, shortly after takeoff, witnesses saw his Me 262 crash in flames. The exact circumstances of his death remain unknown to us. Be that as it may, and according to the very words of one of his adversaries, the French ace Pierre Clostermann, his death left none of the belligerent pilots indifferent:that is an understatement of the reputation of this ace with 258 victories.