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. 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 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. 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, one of just 27 recipients, 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. 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 monastery boy's choir in the Zwettl Abbey.
Due to his father's relocation, Nowotny transferred to the secondary school (Oberschule) in Laa an der Thaya. 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. Nowotny had joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP—National Socialist German Workers' Party) in 1938 with a membership number 6,382,781.
In the same year, he joined the Hitler Youth where he became a leader of a troop in the Mistelbach Hitler Youth district. On 26 January 1939, still Oberschüler, Nowotny submitted an application "for voluntary entry into active military service" with the aim of becoming a pilot. He achieved his diploma (Matura) on 22 May 1939 and then served four months with the Reichsarbeitsdienst (mandatory Labour Service). He joined the Luftwaffe on 1 October 1939 after have received his official enlistment order.
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 Fw 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 15 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.