Walter Karl NowotnyDate of Birth: 07.12.1920 - Gmünd, Niederösterreich (Austria)
Date of Death: 08.11.1944 - Achmer, Niedersachsen (Germany)
Buried: Zentralfriedhof Wien (Austria), Plot: 14. Row: C. Grave: 12.
NSDAP-Number: 6.382.781 (1938)
Parents: Rudolf Nowotny (father)
Siblings: Rudolf and Hubert Nowotny
Promotions:
01.03.1940 Fahnenjunker-Gefreiter
01.04.1940 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier
01.07.1940 Fähnrich
01.04.1941 Leutnant
01.02.1943 Oberleutnant
21.09.1943 Hauptmann
01.09.1944 Major
Career:
01.10.1939 Joined the Luftwaffe
01.10.1939 - 15.11.1939 Basic military training in 2. Flieger-Ausbildungs-Regiment 62 in Quedlinburg
16.11.1939 - 30.06.1940 Flying course in Luftkriegschule 5 in Breslau-Schöngarten
01.08.1940 - 15.11.1940 Fighter pilot course in Jagdfliegerschule 5 in Wien-Schwechat
16.11.1940 - 01.12.1940 Posted in I.Gruppe / Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Merseburg
01.12.1940 - 23.02.1941 Transferred to Ergänzungsstaffel / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54)
23.02.1941 - 25.03.1941 Flugzeugführer in 9.Staffel / III.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54)
25.03.1941 - 10.03.1942 Transferred to Stabsstaffel / Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe JG 54
10.03.1942 - 25.10.1942 Flugzeugführer in 9.Staffel / III.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54)
25.10.1942 - 11.08.1943 Staffelkapitän 1.Staffel / I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54)
11.08.1943 - 15.09.1943 Gruppenführer I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54)
15.09.1943 - 04.02.1944 Gruppenkommandeur I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54)
06.02.1944 - 10.09.1944 Geschwaderkommodore Jagdgeschwader 101 (JG 101)
19.09.1944 - 19.09.1944 Transferred to Kommando der Erprobungsstelle der Luftwaffe in Rechlin
20.09.1944 - 26.09.1944 Gruppenkommandeur III.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 6 (JG 6)
26.09.1944 - 08.11.1944 Kommandeur Kommando Nowotny
Awards and Decorations:
19.08.1940 Flugzeugführerabzeichen
23.07.1941 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
19.08.1941 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
00.00.19__ Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Schwarz
14.07.1942 Luftwaffe Ehrenpokale für besondere Leistungen im Luftkrieg
00.00.194_ Gemeinsames Flugzeugfuhrer-Beobachter Abzeichen mit Brillianten
00.00.194_ Vapaudenristin ritarikunta 1.luokka (Finland)
00.00.194_ Ehrenabzeichen der finnischen Luftwaffe
00.00.194_ Medaille "Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42" (Ostmedaille)
17.05.1942 Frontflugspange für Jäger in Gold
00.00.194_ Frontflugspange für Jäger in Gold mit Anhänger und Einzatszahl "400"
21.08.1942 Deutsches Kreuz in Gold
04.09.1942 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as Leutnant and Flugzeugführer in 9.Staffel / III.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54), awarded after 56 aerial victories
02.09.1943 Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht: "Oberleutnant Nowotny, group leader of a fighter group, achieved ten aerial victories yesterday."
04.09.1943 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #293, as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän 1.Staffel / I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54), awarded after 189 aerial victories
09.09.1943 Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht: "The German and Rumanian air force again supported the troops of the Army with numerous missions. Oberleutnant Nowotny, group leader of a fighter group, thereby achieving his 196th to 200th aerial victory."
16.09.1943 Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht: "Oberleutnant Nowotny, group leader of a fighter group, shot down 12 enemy aircraft on the eastern front during the past two days and achieved his 215th aerial victory."
22.09.1943 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #37, as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54), awarded after 218 aerial victories
10.10.1943 Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht: "Hauptmann Nowotny increased the number of aerial victories by eight to 231."
15.10.1943 Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht: "Hauptmann Nowotny, group commander in a fighter wing, recorded yesterday his 250th aerial victory on the eastern front."
19.10.1943 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwerter und Brillanten #8, as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54), awarded after 250 aerial victories
00.01.1944 Ehrenring der Stadt Wien, awarded by Reichsstatthalter Reichsleiter Baldur von Schirach and given by SS-Oberführer Dipl.-Ing. Hanns Blaschke
09.11.1944 Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht: "Group commander Major Walter Nowotny, recipient of the highest German award for bravery, found a hero's death in aerial combat after he shot down his adversary. In him the German Luftwaffe loses one of their most successful fighter pilots, who had achieved 258 aerial victories."
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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. 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.
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. 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 1,000 metres (0.62 mi) track and field championships. Nowotny also visited the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. For his then mandatory Labour Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst), he joined the Luftwaffe on 1 October 1939. 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. 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. According to Soviet archives, no Soviet aircraft was lost in the engagement. Nowotny spent three days in a dinghy in the Gulf of Riga – on one occasion almost being run down by a Soviet destroyer – until finally being washed ashore on the Latvian coast.
Nowotny quickly recovered from his ordeal and on 31 July claimed a Beriev MBR-2 flying boat north-west of Saaremaa and an Ilyushin DB-3 bomber south of the island. For the rest of his combat career, Nowotny always wore the trousers (German: Abschußhose roughly "shot down pants" sometimes also referred to as "victory pants") that he had worn during those three days in the Gulf of Riga – with one exception, his last sortie, at Achmer on 8 November 1944, when he was killed flying the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.
In 1942, Nowotny increased his tally of victories and claimed his 30th and 31st kills on 11 July over the Volkhov bridgehead during the Battle of Lyuban, which earned him the Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe (Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe) on 14 July 1942. Nowotny shot down a further five aircraft on a single day (32nd – 36th victories), known as an "ace in a day", on 20 July and repeated the designation with seven (48th – 54th victories) on 2 August. After having downed three enemy aircraft on 11 August, Leutnant Nowotny carried out three victory passes over the airfield, despite having sustained combat damage to his own Bf 109 "Black 1". In the subsequent landing, his aircraft somersaulted and he sustained moderate injuries. Walter Nowotny was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 4 September, after 56 aerial victories. The Knight's Cross earned him a home leave to Vienna. Here, the brothers Hubert and Walter met for the last time before Hubert was killed at Stalingrad. Leutnant Nowotny was made Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 1. Staffel of JG 54 on 25 October, replacing Oberleutnant Heinz Lange who was transferred.
In January 1943, JG 54 started converting to the agile Focke-Wulf 190 fighter. With the new aircraft, Nowotny scored at an unprecedented "kill" rate, often averaging more than two planes a day for weeks on end. As of 1 February 1943, Nowotny, Schnörrer, – Nowotny's wingman since late 1942 – Anton Döbele and Rudolf Rademacher, formed a team known as the "chain of devils" (Teufelskette) or the Nowotny Schwarm, which during the course of the war was credited with 524 combined kills, making them the most successful team in the Luftwaffe.
Nowotny scored his 69th to 72nd victory on 16 March. He reached the century mark on 5 June 1943, on his 344th combat mission. He was the 42nd Luftwaffe pilot to achieve the century mark. By 24 June, he would accumulate a further 24 victories increasing his total to 124. On 2 August, Hauptmann Gerhard Homuth, the commander of I. Gruppe was wounded in combat. In consequence, command temporarily was passed to Oberleutnant Hans Götz who was killed in action only two days later. Command of the Gruppe was then given to Oberleutnant Otto Vinzent. On 11 August, Vinzent was given command of 2. Staffel and Nowotny temporarily assumed command of I. Gruppe. On 15 September, Nowotny was officially appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe.
In August alone, he shot down 49 aircraft – a number matched exactly by Jagdgeschwader 52's (JG 52) Erich Hartmann – bringing Nowotny's total to 161 victories. On 1 September, he scored ten victories in two sorties, which took his tally to 183. Seventy-two hours later, that number had risen to 189, earning him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub) on 8 September. The award was to be personally presented by the Führer, Adolf Hitler, on 22 September 1943. However, by this date Nowotny had claimed his double century (200) on 8 September, and, on 15 September, his 215th victory, making him the highest-scoring pilot in the Luftwaffe to that time. Two Lavochkin La-5s and a Yakovlev Yak-9 on 17 September brought his score to 218 victories, earning him Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern) on 22 September 1943. The planned "Oak Leaves" presentation thus became a "Swords" ceremony. The presentation was made by Hitler at the Wolf's Lair, Hitler's headquarters in Rastenburg on 22 September 1943. Three other Luftwaffe officers were presented with awards that day by Hitler, Major Hartmann Grasser and Hauptmann Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein were awarded the Oak Leaves, and Hauptmann Günther Rall also received the Swords to his Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.
Nowotny was promoted to Hauptmann on 21 September 1943, effective as of 1 October, following his 225th victory. On 14 October 1943, he became the first pilot to reach 250 victories, following his 442 combat missions. Nowotny was celebrating this feat in the Ria Bar in Vilna when he received a phone call from Hitler himself, announcing that he had been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten), making him the eighth of 27 men to be so honored.
The Brillanten (Diamonds) were presented by Hitler at the Wolfsschanze, near Kętrzyn (German: Rastenburg) on 19 October 1943. Nowotny immediately went on a short vacation to Vienna before returning to his front-line unit. On 29 October 1943, Nowotny presented the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross to Oberfeldwebel Otto Kittel. In the days following, Nowotny flew as wingman to Karl Schnörrer, helping him accumulate further victories. On 11 November, Anton Döbele was killed when he rammed an Il-2 Sturmovik. The next day, 12 November 1943, Schnörrer was severely injured after bailing out at low altitude. Schnörrer was replaced as Nowotny's wingman by Unteroffizier Ernst Richter. With Richter, Nowotny claimed his final two aerial victories on the Eastern Front on 15 November 1943. In total, Nowotny had claimed 255 confirmed kills plus a further 50 unconfirmed, before he was taken off combat duty.
Nowotny was sent on a propaganda tour in Germany, which included the presentation of the Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross (Ritterkreuz des Kriegsverdienstkreuzes) to the railroad engineer August Kindervater on 7 December 1943 – Nowotny's 23rd birthday. Shortly before Christmas, he visited the Focke-Wulf production site at Bad Eilsen, where he was met by Professor Kurt Tank. The mayor of Vienna, Dipl.-Ing. Hanns Blaschke awarded Nowotny the city's ring of honour on 11 January 1944, the presentation taking place a week later. It was a token that Nowotny accepted reluctantly, feeling that he did not deserve it. His next official visit was the Büromaschinenfabrik (office machinery factory) at Zella-Mehlis, before he briefly returned to Jagdgeschwader 54. Nowotny was made Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 101 (JG 101) and commander of the Jagdfliegerschule 1, a Luftwaffe fighter pilot training school at Pau in southern France, in April 1944. During his absence from JG 54, Nowotny was temporarily replaced by Hauptmann Heinz Lange as commander of I. Gruppe. On 4 February, Hauptmann Horst Ademeit officially succeeded Nowotny as Gruppenkommandeur.
In September 1944, Nowotny was made commander of a specialist unit dubbed Kommando Nowotny, flying the newly developed Messerschmitt Me 262 out of airfields near Osnabrück. The unit not only had to contend with the enemy, but also with working through the 'teething' phase of the Me 262 and developing the tactics appropriate for a jet unit. On 7 October, Nowotny downed a B-24 Liberator bomber, his first aerial victory on the Western Front.
Generals Alfred Keller and Adolf Galland had scheduled an inspection at Achmer Airfield for the afternoon of 7 November 1944. Galland had already visited Kommando Nowotny several times and was deeply concerned over the high attrition rate and meager success achieved by the Me 262. After inspecting the two airfields at Achmer and Hesepe, he stayed in the Penterknapp barracks discussing the problems of the past few weeks. Several pilots openly expressed their doubts as to the readiness of the Me 262 for combat operations.
The next morning, 8 November 1944, the Generals arrived again at Nowotny's command post and Keller declared that the aces of the past years had become cowards and that the Luftwaffe had lost its fighting spirit. Shortly after, news reached the command post of a large bomber formation approaching. Two Rotten of Me 262 were prepared for take-off, Erich Büttner and Franz Schall at Hesepe, and Nowotny and Günther Wegmann at Achmer. At first only Schall and Wegmann managed to take off because Büttner had a punctured tire during taxiing and Nowotny's turbines initially refused to start. With some delay, Nowotny took off and engaged the enemy on his own, Schall and Wegmann having since retired from the action after sustaining battle damage. Nowotny radioed that he had downed a B-24 Liberator and a P-51 Mustang before he reported one engine failing and made one final garbled transmission containing the word "burning". Helmut Lennartz recalled:
"I remember Nowotny's crash very well. Feldwebel Gossler, a radio operator with our unit, had set up a radio on the airfield. Over this set I and many others listened to the radio communications with Nowotny's aircraft. His last words were, "I'm on fire" or "it's on fire". The words were slightly garbled."
It remains unclear whether Nowotny was killed due to engine failure or whether he was shot down by United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Captain Ernest C. Fiebelkorn (20th Fighter Group) and 1st Lieutenant Edward "Buddy" Haydon (357th Fighter Group) east of Hesepe. In recent years, United States military historians proposed that Nowotny's victor may have been P-51D pilot Lieutenant Richard W. Stevens of the 364th Fighter Group. Many witnesses observed Nowotny's Me 262 A-1a (Werknummer 110 400) "White 8" dive vertically out of the clouds and crash at Epe, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) east of Hesepe.
Nowotny was given a state funeral in Vienna. The guard of honour was composed of his friend Karl Schnörrer, Oberst Gordon Gollob, Major Rudolf Schoenert, Hauptmann Heinz Strüning, Major Josef Fözö and Major Georg Christl. The eulogy was delivered by Generaloberst Otto Deßloch. Nowotny was buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery in a grave of honour sponsored by the city of Vienna. Following an initiative by the Austrian Green Party and debates in the Vienna Landtag, a resolution supported by Social Democrats and Greens was passed to remove the status of honour in 2003. Nowotny's grave remains a frequent target of both far-left vandalism and far-right memorial festivities.
Following Nowotny's death, a stone memorial was built at the crash site in Epe which included remnants of his Me 262. The commemorating plaque on the memorial read: "Here on 8 November 1944, following 258 aerial victories, the recipient of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, Major Walter Nowotny, fell for the people and the fatherland." In August 2017, following a lengthy debate in Bramsche, the plaque was replaced with a new text, addressing the issue of commemorating alleged war heroes, and commemorating the victims of war and resistance.
According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Nowotny was credited with 258 aerial victories. Spick also lists Nowotny with 258 aerial victories claimed 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. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 256 aerial victory claims, plus four further unconfirmed claims. This figure of confirmed claims includes 255 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and one victory on the Western Front flying the Me 262 jet fighter.
Oberleutnant Walter Nowotny in 1943. For some unknown reason, he is not wearing the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes which he received on 4 September 1942 as Leutnant and Flugzeugführer in 9.Staffel / III.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54), awarded after 56 aerial victories.
Oberleutnant Walter Nowotny (Staffelkapitän 1.Staffel / I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54) wearing a diensthemd (duty shirt) in a photograph taken by Kriegsberichter Jütte in the summer of 1943 on the Eastern Front. At least this photo was taken before September 4, 1943, when Nowotny was awarded the Eichenlaub after achieving 189 confirmed aerial victories. Other pictures from this series can be seen
HERE.
Oberleutnant Walter Nowotny (Staffelkapitän 1.Staffel / I.Gruppe /
Jagdgeschwader 54) received congratulations from his comrades shortly
after returning from a combat mission on the Eastern Front in a
Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-5 "Weisse 4" (Werknummer 1501), summer 1943. The
Luftwaffe fighter ace takes off his gloves in front of the tail
section of the White 4. The aircraft's serial number "1501" is visible
on the
fin. The lower part of the rudder is painted yellow. This picture was
taken by Kriegsberichter Ertz, and at least was taken before September
4, 1943, when Nowotny was awarded the Eichenlaub after achieving 189
confirmed aerial victories. Other pictures from this series can be seen
HERE.
Hauptmann Walter Nowotny (Gruppenkommandeur I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54) in a picture taken on 11 October 1943.
Brillanten
award ceremony for Hauptmann Walter Nowotny (Gruppenkommandeur I.Gruppe
/ Jagdgeschwader 54) which were held at Führerhauptquartier
Wolfsschanze, Rastenburg (East Prussia), on 20 October 1943. The medal
was presented by Adolf Hitler in his capacity as Führer und Oberster
Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe fighter ace Walter Nowotny
formally received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub,
Schwerter und Brillanten #8 on 19 October 1943 after became the first
person in history who scores 250 aerial victories. After the award
ceremony, Nowotny immediately went on a short vacation to Vienna before
returning to his front-line unit.
Hauptmann Walter Nowotny (Gruppenkommandeur I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54) in a picture taken in October 1943, after he received the Brillanten for his Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (19 October 1943). The picture was taken by unknown photographer from Presse-Illustrationen Heinrich Hoffmann and was first published by 'Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung' (DAZ).
Hauptmann
Walter Nowotny (Gruppenkommandeur I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 54) during
official visit to the Büromaschinenfabrik (office machinery factory) at
Zella-Mehlis, 2 February 1944. Original caption: "Brillantenträger
Hauptmann Nowotny with the soldiers of a squadron in an expert
discussion in an aircraft factory. An Oberfeldwebel (senior sergeant),
who was himself a foreman, looks at his comrades' workpieces from the
lathe with great expertise. Hauptmann Nowotny is in the middle
background". The picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Vieth.
Hauptmann
Walter Nowotny (Geschwaderkommodore Jagdgeschwader 101) and
Oberleutnant Karl-Heinz Schmidt (Staffelkapitän 2.Staffel /
Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5) watching a handball game between JG 101 and
FAGr 5 teams. The match were held on 24 May 1944 in Mont-de-Marsan
airfield, a long-range reconnaissance base in southwestern France. Even
in the presence of their encouraging commander, the handball team of JG
101 lost with a score of 17:4 to the FAGr 5 team. Other pictures from this series can be seen
HERE.
Grave of the Austrian fighter pilot Major Walter Nowotny at the Zentralfriedhof Wien (Vienna Central Cemetery), About 1965. Zentralfriedhof Wien (Austria), Plot: 14. Row: C. Grave: 12. Nowotny was buried in a grave of honour
in November 1944, sponsored by the city of Vienna. Following an initiative by the Austrian
Green Party and debates in the Vienna Landtag, a resolution supported
by Social Democrats and Greens was passed to remove the status of honour
in 2003. Until this day, Nowotny's grave remains a frequent target of both far-left
vandalism and far-right memorial festivities.
Source :
Bundesarchiv photo archive
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2022/09/major-walter-nowotny-1920-1944-pilot.html
https://audiovis.nac.gov.pl/obraz/36399/102b0ac622c2f42d055343de58b40e30/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Nowotny
https://www.gettyimages.com/search/2/image?family=editorial&phrase=walter%20nowotny
https://reibert.info/threads/valter-novotny-walter-nowotny.81263/
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/217/Nowotny-Walter.htm
