Walter Nowotny

German fighter ace (b.1920, d.1944)

Walter Nowotny was a fighter pilot in the German Luftwaffe during World War II. He scored 255 victories (mostly on the Eastern Front) and received the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, one of the Third Reich's highest decorations for bravery. In the fall of 1944 Nowotny was put in charge of Kommando Nowotny, the first squadron of Me-262 jet fighters, and died when his jet crashed near Achmer on November 8, 1944. Only a few parts of his body could be recovered from the wreck and he had to be identified by his Knight's Cross. He was buried in the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna, where his grave can still be seen. He isn't listed in the cemetery's guidebook, though.

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